HUMAN   SIDE 


TREES 


* 


LIGNUM  VITVE,  Guaiacum  sanctum. 

With  its  dainty  blue  flowers  in  their  setting  of  green  leaves,  this  is  a  veritable 
sprite  of  the  woods. 


THE  HUMAN  SIDE  OF  TREES 


THE 

HUMAN  SIDE 
OF  TREES 

WONDERS  OF  THE  TREE  WORLD 

BY 

ROYAL  DIXON 

AND 

FRANKLYN  EVERETT  FITCH 


NEW  YORK 

FREDERICK  A.  STOKES  COMPANY 

PUBLISHERS 


Copyright,  1917,  by 
FREDERICK  A.  STOKES  COMPANY 


AU  rilhtt  retened,  including  that  of  translation 
mio  foreign  language* 


Printed  in  the  United  States  of  America 


SRLE 
URL 

OC/ 


to 
COLONEL  THEODORE  ROOSEVELT 

AMERICA'S  FOBEMOST  NATURALIST 


ACKNOWLEDGMENT 

The  authors  are  indebted  to  the  United  States 
Forest  Service,  the  American  Museum  of  Natural 
History,  the  J.  Horace  McFarland  Company  and 
others  for  the  photographs  used  to  illustrate  this 
volume. 


CONTENTS 

INTRODUCTION xv 

I.  TREES  THAT  BUILD  CITIES     ....  1 

n.  TREES  WITH  A  PERSONALITY       ...  17 

III.  TREE  PHYSIOLOGY 33 

IV.  TREES  THAT  ARE  FASHIONABLE  ...  45 
V.  TREES  WITH  A  COLLEGE  EDUCATION     .  59 

VI.  TREES  THAT  KEEP  A  DIARY  ....  77 

VII.  TREES  AND  THEIR  BUSINESS  METHODS  .  92 

VIII.  TREES  THAT  MANUFACTURE  ....  103 

IX.  TREES  THAT  TRAVEL 122 

X.  MUSICAL  TREES 133 

XI.  HISTORIC  TREES 141 

XII.  RELIGIOUS  TREES 160 

XIII.  CURIOUS  TREES 173 

XTV.  TREES  AND  CIVILISATION  .  187 


ILLUSTRATIONS 


The  lignum- vite,  with  its  dainty  blue  flowers  in  their  setting  of 

green  leaves,  is  a  veritable  sprite  of  the  woods  (In  Colors) .      Frontispiece 

PACING 
PAGE 

"In  the  woods  is  perpetual  youth"    ........  4 

A  tree-city  in  Idaho,  where  pine,  tamarack,  and  cedar  dwell  together 

in  perfect  accord ?«...,.       .       .       .  6 

The  sturdy,  wind-defying  yellow  pine 22 

The  American  elm  is  fairy-like  hi  early  spring 23 

Where  cypress  trees  rise  above  the  water  on  root-stilts         ...  36 

A  New  Jersey  tree  which  had  its  back  hopelessly  crippled  in  youth 

but  which  still  grows  gamely 37 

The  silver  fir  ornaments  itself  with  beautiful  brown  cone-buttons  (In 

Colors) 50 

In  springtime  the  horsechestnut  is  the  most  gaily  attired  of  trees       .  56 

The  southern  live  oaks  deck  themselves  with  a  bridal-veil  of  Spanish 

moss 57 

Educated  date  palms  which  have  attained  unusual  luxuriance     .       .  66 

This  curious  tree  shows  purple  beech  grafted  on  American  beech        .  67 

The  hickory  often  branches  in  a  wild,  irregular  way      ....  78 

This  western  juniper  has  had  a  quiet,  placid  life 79 

A  goosequill  redwood  rearing  its  young  within  its  own  body        .       .  100 

A  group  of  southern  pines  which  have  sent  long  trunks  upward  to 

search  for  light  and  all     .       .       .       ...       .       .       .       .  101 

The  banana  tree  yields  a  fruit  which  is  becoming  a  nutritious  staple 

all  over  the  world 108 

The  tropical  bamboo  is  an  extremely  useful  tree  to  man       .       .       .  109 

The  pomette  bleue  is  a  manufacturer  of  beauty  and  charm  for  its  less 

lovely  neighbors  (In  Colors) 114 


iii  ILLUSTRATIONS 

FAOB 

A  doubled-trunk  specimen  of  the  useful  American  baobab  tree  .  .118 
Taking  cigar-box  cedar  out  of  a  Cuban  jungle 119 

The  monkey-bread  tree  has  travelled  from  Australia  to  dwell  among 

the  cocoanut  palms  of  Florida 130 

The  hardwoods  have  invaded  Virginia's  Blue  Ridge       .       .       .       .131 

The  giant  Douglas  fir  and  red  cedar  combine  to  form  a  mighty  pipe- 
organ         136 

These  conifers  catch  whisperings  from  off  the  river  ....  137 
Because  of  its  long  life,  the  beautiful  cypress  often  becomes  historical  144 

A  famous  West  Indian  saman  or  rain-tree  of  tremendous  proportions 

and  exceptional  grace 145 

The  wax-like  flowers  of  the  loblolly  bay  are  candles  on  nature's  altar 

(In  Colors) 162 

At  the  edge  of  a  California  redwood  forest 170 

A  young  banyan  at  Key  West,  Florida,  decorated  with  white  paint  .  171 
A  natural  temple  in  Pike  National  Forest,  Colorado  .  .  .  .174 
The  African  ceiba  or  silk-cotton  tree  is  often  an  object  of  veneration  .  175 
A  curiously  shaped  barriguda  tree,  a  Brazilian  silk  cotton  .  .  .180 

The  queer-looking  chinaberry  tree  is  grown  in  all  tropical  countries 

for  its  magnificent  shade 181 

A  government-protected  stream  head  in  the  southern  Appalachians    .     194 

This  magnificent  Adirondack  landscape  is  forever  protected  against 
wholesale  destruction  195 


1  care  not  how  men  trace  their  ancestry, 
To  ape  or  Adam:  let  them  please  their  whim; 
But  I  in  June  am  midway  to  believe 
A  tree  among  my  fair  progenitors. 
Such  sympathy  is  mine  with  all  the  race, 
Such  mutual  recognition  vaguely  sweet 
There  is  between  us, — surely  there  are  times 
When  they  consent  to  own  me  of  their  kin, 
And  condescend  to  me,  and  call  me  cousin. 

— LOWELL 


INTRODUCTION 

MAN  is  the  highest  form  of  animal  life  and  the 
trees  are  the  highest  form  of  vegetable  life. 
They  have  much  in  common. 

We  humans  are  inclined  to  assume  too  great  a 
superiority  over  our  fellow  creatures  of  a  great  uni- 
verse. The  doctrine  that  the  earth  was  created  for 
our  special  benefit  still  obtains  a  wide  credence. 
We  lose  sight  of  the  fact  that,  after  all,  plants, 
animals  and  the  human  biped  are  all  made  of  the 
same  stuff,  by  the  same  God;  governed  by  the 
same  chemical  and  physical  laws  and  subject  to 
the  same  final  bodily  dissolution. 

In  The  Human  Side  of  Plants  it  has  been 
shown  that  plants  and  trees  possess  certain  mental 
and  moral  characteristics  and  the  attributes  of  rea- 
son, memory,  hope,  language,  love,  and  all  forms 
of  righteous  ambition.  These  in  man  we  claim  to 
belong  to  an  immortal  spirit,  rather  than  to  an 
earthly  body.  Why  not  make  the  same  concession 
to  the  trees? 

Few  thinking  minds  can  study  these  marvellous 
beings  and  fail  to  be  convinced  that  they  are  living 


xvi  INTRODUCTION 

exponents  of  a  beneficent  Creator.  They  may  be 
as  needful  in  a  world  of  spirit  as  they  are  on  this 
earthly  plane  of  existence.  If  man  is  to  carry  over 
his  present  life  into  a  future  world  why  should  not 
plant  creatures  also  share  the  same  chance  to  reach 
out  to  higher  and  better  development?  All  life 
is  one,  partly  a  breathing,  earthly  frame  and  partly 
a  spiritual  essence.  "As  all  existence  is  a  unit," 
says  Thomas  Gentry,  "it  can  hardly  be  conceived 
that  an  all-wise  God,  who  is  infinite  in  love,  mercy, 
and  justice,  would  look  to  the  preservation  in  a 
future  state  of  but  a  very  small  part  of  the  life 
which  He  has  been  instrumental  in  placing  upon 
this  earth.  It  would  be  more  consistent  with  His 
attributes,  and  with  the  scheme  of  development  of 
life  upon  our  planet,  whereby  life  has  been  progres- 
sive, the  fittest  only  being  allowed  to  survive,  to 
have  provided  in  the  grand  plan  of  redemption, 
not  merely  the  salvation  of  the  highest  of  earth- 
life,  but  of  all  life,  the  purest  and  the  best,  that 
would  represent  in  the  heaven-life,  in  spiritualised 
form,  the  highest  living  exponents  of  divine  ideas. 
No  other  belief  accords  so  well  with  the  teachings 
of  science  and  philosophy.  Only  in  its  acceptance, 
for  it  makes  all  life  related  to  the  divine  life,  can 
there  be  any  hope  of  escape  from  materialism,  that 
curse  of  the  age." 


INTRODUCTION  xvii 

In  the  following  chapters  it  at  least  is  shown 
that  these  noble  forest  giants  which  the  average 
man  looks  upon  as  mere  food  for  the  pulp  mills, 
are  living,  growing,  thinking  creatures,  with  def- 
inite habits  of  life,  efficient  business  methods,  and 
characters  often  more  to  be  admired  than  the  men 
who  chop  them  down. 

From  earliest  times  men  have  recognised  psychic 
personalities  among  the  trees.  For  long  periods 
they  worshipped  them  as  incarnations  or  temporary 
abiding  places  of  supernatural  spirits.  The  selec- 
tion of  certain  trees  as  sacred  has  happened  many 
times  and  through  all  ages.  In  every  land  the  in- 
stances of  plant  deification  are  numerous;  even 
in  the  present  day,  superstition  attributes  innumer- 
able mysterious  powers  to  trees.  In  the  annals  of 
every  great  religion,  from  Confucianism  to  Chris- 
tianity, trees  have  stood  forth  prominently;  in  every 
sacred  volume  from  the  Zend  Avesta  to  the  Old  and 
New  Testaments  their  acts  are  recorded. 

Great  men  of  all  ages  have  felt  a  peculiar  kin- 
ship for  their  forest  friends.  Under  the  inspiring 
shade  of  sympathetic  branches  some  of  the  world's 
greatest  thoughts  have  come  to  birth.  At  all 
times  the  trees  have  exercised  a  profound  influence 
upon  the  universe. 

The  functions  of  the  trees  are  many.    They  give 


xviii  INTRODUCTION 

shade.  They  beautify  the  landscape.  They  purify 
the  air.  They  regulate  drainage,  preventing  both 
destroying  droughts  and  devastating  floods.  By 
exhaling  moisture,  they  help  to  keep  the  atmos- 
pheric humidity  right.  They  break  the  force  of 
cyclonic  winds.  Their  protection  keeps  the  earth 
soft  and  fresh  and  capable  of  growing  things.  They 
shelter  innumerable  plants  and  animals  which  other- 
wise would  become  extinct.  Their  absence  or  pres- 
ence literally  determines  the  shape  and  character 
of  continents  as  well  as  the  type  of  men  and  ani- 
mals which  live  on  them. 

We  do  not  claim  for  plants  and  trees  the  slight- 
est equality  with  man;  but  we  do  claim  that  they 
are  beings  which  in  a  minor  degree  have  all  human 
pleasures  and  understandings,  and  that  in  the  future 
life  they  will  very  likely  be  compensated  for  their 
struggles  and  difficulties  here  in  this  world.  The 
ruthless  destruction  of  them  is  due  to  man's  ex- 
alted opinion  of  himself,  of  considering  them  as 
lifeless  things  without  susceptibilities,  without  rea- 
son, and  without  hope  for  a  future.  If  man  has 
a  soul,  so  have  trees. 

Economically  the  trees  are  indispensable.  Take 
all  the  tree  products  out  of  our  daily  life  and  we 
should  be  a  long  time  readjusting  ourselves.  The 
cocoanut  palm  is  an  example  of  a  single  tree  which 


INTRODUCTION  xix 

can  be  made  to  supply  all  the  needs  of  a  not  too- 
luxurious  member  of  society.  In  certain  islands 
of  the  seas  this  prolific  plant  furnishes  the  natives 
with  the  wood  from  which  they  build  their  houses, 
their  boats  and  their  utensils.  When  the  leaves 
are  young,  they  are  eaten.  When  they  are  old, 
they  are  woven  and  braided  into  hats,  baskets,  cloth, 
fans,  bedding,  paper,  and  thatch.  The  ribs  of  the 
mature  leaves  are  converted  into  arrows,  spears, 
brooms,  torches,  and  paddles.  Out  of  the  flowers 
come  wine,  vinegar,  and  sugar.  The  fruit  makes 
a  delicious  food,  and  its  husk  yields  oil,  cord,  and 
matting.  Even  the  roots  of  this  useful  creature 
are  sometimes  used  for  food. 

These  things  are  not  cited  to  further  the  idea 
that  the  trees  were  created  to  be  the  servants  of 
man.  They  have  their  own  lives  to  live  and  their 
own  problems  to  solve.  But  under  the  existing 
laws  of  life,  every  creature  lives  at  the  expense  or 
rather  by  the  help  and  co-operation  of  many  others. 
Man,  as  the  highest  type  of  vegetable  or  animal 
life  yet  evolved,  is  able  to  enlist  the  services  of  vast 
numbers  of  his  fellow  creatures.  Right  generous 
and  royal  is  their  co-operation,  and  often  beastly 
and  rapacious  is  his  squandering  of  their  lives  and 
bodies. 

Botanically,  trees  are  perennial  plants  having 


xx  INTRODUCTION 

woody  stems  and  branches.  They  are  distinguished 
from  bushes  and  shrubs  by  ordinarily  possessing 
only  one  trunk.  Yet  despite  their  size  and  marked 
individuality  of  form,  trees  have  the  roots,  the  stem, 
the  leaves,  the  fruit,  and  the  seeds  characteristic  of 
all  plants. 

It  really  is  most  remarkable  that,  despite  many 
adverse  conditions,  the  trees  enjoy  the  distinction 
of  becoming,  as  a  class,  the  very  oldest  of  living 
earthly  things.  They  cannot  evade  or  run  away 
from  danger.  Patiently  they  must  endure  drought, 
flood,  earthquake,  fire,  storm,  and  insects.  Yet 
many  of  them  rise  superior  to  all  forces  working  for 
their  destruction  and  reach  ages  which  cause  even 
man  to  marvel. 

The  aim  of  this  book  is  to  present  the  trees  as 
living,  lovable  personalities — working  and  playing 
in  a  world  quite  as  real  and  vital  as  our  own;  and 
possessing  many  habits  and  attributes  which  we 
often  imagine  are  exclusively  human.  They  are 
far  more  sensitive  to  climatic  conditions  than  man, 
and  in  some  of  them  is  discernible  a  strangeness 
of  expression  that  is  difficult  to  understand.  Only 
a  rash  and  presumptuous  person  would  dare  say 
that  trees  are  not  endowed  with  a  consciousness, 
no  matter  how  infmitesimally  small  it  may  be. 

Make  friends  with  the  trees  and  they  will  make 


INTRODUCTION  xxi 

friends  with  you.  Places  of  friendly  contact  with 
them  are  not  always  easy  to  find,  but  they  are 
there,  and  it  is  usually  the  mental  attitude  of  the 
seeker  which  obscures  them.  When  the  State  of 
Nebraska  set  aside  the  first  Arbor  Day  in  1872,  it 
started  an  enthusiastic  movement  which  has  since 
swept  over  the  entire  country  and  surged  over  the 
seas  to  foreign  soil.  The  old  reverence  for  the  trees 
still  exists,  even  if  it  sometimes  has  been  almost 
entirely  obscured  by  long  dwelling  amid  brick  and 
mortar. 

Genuine  acquaintance  with  the  trees  reacts  upon 
the  nature-lover's  soul  with  startling  effect.  What 
man  is  so  base  and  sordid  that  he  can  contemplate 
the  beauties  of  an  autumn  wood  without  feeling 
some  measure  of  uplift  and  ennoblement?  What 
blind  eye  is  so  filmed  by  materialism  that  it  can 
watch  a  tiny  seed  develop  into  tons  of  solid  timber 
and  then  declare  there  is  no  God? 


THE  HUMAN  SIDE  OF  TREES 


THE   HUMAN  SIDE   OF  TREES 


TREES  THAT  BUILD  CITIES 

A  brotherhood  of  venerable  trees. 

— WORDSWORTH. 

MEN  assemble  themselves  into  cities  for 
mutual  help  and  protection.  So  do  the 
trees.  "Union  makes  strength"  is  a  motto  they 
have  permanently  adopted.  There  are  hermits 
among  the  leaf-clad  pioneers,  but  the  great  ma- 
jority, like  human  beings,  prefer  to  dwell  together 
in  vast  allied  groups. 

In  the  fierceness  of  its  life-struggle,  the  tree  city 
resembles  a  mediaeval  town  more  than  it  does  the 
orderly  human  centre  of  the  present  day.  There 
is  a  vigour  and  primitive  relentlessness  which  indi- 
cates an  untrammelled  belief  in  "the  survival  of  the 
fittest." 

Every  tree  city  comes  into  being  in  a  most  ro- 
mantic way.  It  grows  but  it  does  not  "just  grow," 
I 


2       THE  HUMAN  SIDE  OF  TREES 

At  some  far  distant  epoch,  sturdy  exploring  trees 
established  the  settlement,  struggled  against  ad- 
verse conditions,  baffled  with  unruly  friends,  failed 
perhaps,  were  almost  wiped  out,  rallied  again,  and 
finally,  little  by  little,  like  a  group  of  well-organised 
business  men,  pushed  the  colony  to  self-sustaining 
proportions. 

Perhaps  the  original  site  was  on  the  edge  of  a 
plain  or  prairie,  grass-covered  and  dreary.  Some 
far-roaming  tree-seeds,  borne  high  by  a  generous 
wind,  spied  this  desirable  place  and  were  happy. 

"A  new  and  marvellous  country!"  they  cry. 
"Here  we  will  have  peace  and  little  competition,  and 
we  can  build  a  pleasant  home.  Let  us  down,  good 
wind;  we  will  fly  no  farther." 

So  the  wind  puts  on  his  brakes,  and  all  the  little 
tree-seeds  tumble  to  the  ground,  alighting  in  various 
good  positions,  one  seeking  this  spot,  another  seek- 
ing that,  and  every  one  looking  for  the  very  place 
he  likes  best.  Some  places  are  a  little  hard,  but 
when  the  baby  seeds  have  sprouted  and  pushed  their 
tiny  roots  into  the  soil,  they  find  that  the  earth 
tastes  good  and  is  moist  and  rich.  How  delightful 
to  drink  up  water  from  the  hospitable  ground!  And 
food!  Everything  seems  so  easy  and  wonderful; 
the  earth,  the  sunshine,  and  the  air  supply  all. 
Gaily  and  quickly  tiny  shoots  begin  to  grow,  and 


TREES  THAT  BUILD  CITIES         3 

reach  up  toward  the  sunshine  and  the  great  sky. 

Alas,  for  the  young  and  inexperienced!  A 
greedy  bird  pulls  up  and  eats  some  of  the  choicest 
seedlings.  A  careless  animal  tramples  half  their 
number  to  death.  That  very  autumn  there  comes 
a  drought.  Rain  does  not  fall  for  months.  Even 
the  strongest  roots  shrink  up  with  thirst ;  they  grow 
seer  and  yellow  with  premature  age.  Then  comes 
not  the  deluge,  but  the  fire  of  destruction.  A  great 
conflagration  roars  across  the  horizon,  advances 
with  incredible  rapidity  and  licks  up  the  whole 
colony  with  one  cruel  tongue  of  flame. 

Everything  is  over  now — No,  not  quite.  Three 
or  four  of  the  hardiest  varieties,  especially  those 
that  had  sent  roots  deep  into  the  soil,  still  have  a 
little  life  left.  All  winter  long  they  lie  dormant, 
but  with  spring's  quickening  touch  they  raise  feeble 
heads  and  push  their  way  up  into  the  sunlight. 
They  are  ready  to  start  all  over  again! 

So  is  a  tree  colony  founded  in  toil  and  tribulation, 
and  year  after  year  must  its  members  struggle  both 
with  outside  agencies  and  among  themselves.  The 
more  one  studies  a  tree  city,  the  closer  does  its  re- 
semblance to  human  cities  appear.  The  more  one 
studies  a  single  tree,  the  more  it  seems  like  some 
lone  human  soul  struggling  for  life  amid  millions 
of  its  fellows. 


4       THE  HUMAN  SIDE  OF  TREES 

Humans  speak  of  fleeing  city  streets  and  getting 
out  into  the  woods.  If  they  but  realised  it,  they 
are  merely  journeying  from  one  city  to  a  better  one 
• — from  man's  poor  imitation  to  nature's  splendid 
consummation.  We  agree  with  Emerson  that  "in 
the  woods  is  perpetual  youth.  Within  these  plan- 
tations of  God  a  decorum  and  sanctity  reign,  a 
perennial  festival  is  dressed,  and  the  guest  sees  not 
how  he  should  tire  of  them  in  a  thousand  years." 

Tree  cities!  This  idea  is  something  more  than 
a  pretty  analogy.  Let  us  mount  above  some  great 
forest  by  aeroplane  and  observe  its  great  and  sali- 
ent features  en  masse.  The  streets,  alas,  are  for 
the  most  part  hidden,  but  we  know  that  they  are 
there — great,  cathedral  passageways,  high-flung 
and  canopied,  protected  alike  from  browning  sun 
and  threatening  shower. 

As  we  soar  high  and  free  on  the  wings  of  man's 
genius,  we  recognise  various  quarters  of  this  city 
of  leafy  billows — sections  of  light  green;  regions 
close-knit  and  impenetrable ;  regions  freer  and  more 
open — all  telling  of  the  wide-spreading  mansions 
and  the  close-packed  tenements  of  a  cosmopolitan 
origin.  Here  and  there  are  rocky  open  places,  as 
if  the  trees  too  required  their  breathing  spaces  in 
which  to  stretch  their  knotted  and  restricted  limbs. 
Sometimes  a  lonely  sycamore  or  plane  tree  stands 


"IN  THE  WOODS  IS  PERPETUAL  YOUTH' 


A  TREE-CITY  IN  IDAHO,  WHERE  PINE,  TAMARACK,  AND  CEDAR  DWELL  TOGETHER 
IN  PERFECT  ACCORD 


TREES  THAT  BUILD  CITIES         5 

in  the  middle  of  such  a  clearing,  or  near  a  small 
stream,  with  self-contained  grandeur,  and  one  is 
reminded  of  the  words  of  Bryant : 

"Clear  are  the  depths  where  its  eddies  play, 
And  the  dimples  deepen  and  hurl  away; 
And  the  plane  tree's  speckled  arms  o'ershoot 
The  swifter  current  that  mines  its  root." 

It  flings  its  arms  far  and  wide  in  untrammelled 
vigour  and  attains  a  size  and  majesty  impossible 
within  the  solid  phalanxes  of  its  fellows.  Another 
tree  which  likes  so  to  splurge  is  the  beech.  It  is 
by  nature  extremely  masterful  and  monopolistic. 
In  the  confines  of  the  woods,  its  trunk  often  rises 
fifty  or  sixty  feet  without  branches,  but  when  given 
elbow-room  it  broadens  out  laterally  so  far  that  the 
ends  of  the  side-shoots  almost  touch  the  ground. 

Our  bird's-eye  view  complete,  let  us  go  down  into 
the  city  and  with  our  own  feet  tread  its  moss-paved, 
bark-walled  streets. 

Our  eyes  see  a  very  beautiful  forest  but  they  have 
not  been  trained  to  discern  the  subtler  facts.  We 
shall  call  upon  a  naturalist  to  act  as  sightseeing 
megaphone  man.  He  is  well  acquainted  with  all 
the  inhabitants  and  speaks  their  language.  He 
will  very  likely  first  direct  attention  to  the  endless 
man-like  struggle  for  existence  which  permeates 
woodland  life.  He  will  point  out  that  as  soon  as 


6       THE  HUMAN  SIDE  OF  TREES 

a  tree  is  born  it  must  begin  a  never-ending  effort 
to  gain  for  itself  a  full  quota  of  light  and  air.  It 
stands  shoulder  to  shoulder  with  other  saplings,  all 
growing  up  in  the  shadow  of  larger  trees.  The 
one  that  grows  the  fastest  is  assured  of  a  long  life 
and  abundant  foliage.  He  who  lags  behind  be- 
comes first  a  little  smaller  than  his  fellows,  then  of 
noticeably  retarded  and  restricted  crown,  then  sup- 
pressed or  hopelessly  out  of  the  running,  and  finally 
an  invalid  who  dwindles  to  a  speedy  death.  The 
mortality  among  the  baby  trees  is  very  great,  and 
becomes  less  as  maturity  is  reached.  Occasionally 
we  meet  a  life-long  sick  man  who,  with  bent  or 
broken  trunk,  is  dragging  out  a  weary  existence. 

Metropolitan  life  is  inclined  to  be  enervating. 
Foresters  tell  us  that  growth  is  so  retarded  in  a 
tree  city  that  an  Adirondack  spruce  which  takes 
one  hundred  and  eighty  years  to  attain  a  diameter 
of  twelve  feet  could  secure  this  dimension  in  one 
hundred  years  under  unhampered  conditions. 

There  are  a  few  inhabitants  of  the  forest  who  de- 
liberately choose  what  form  their  physical  body 
shall  take.  This  body  must  suit  their  environment. 
If  they  see  that  restricted  conditions  of  light  and 
air  surround  their  early  life,  they  become  vines; 
but  when  given  more  room  they  develop  into  lux- 
urious trees.  The  wild  fig  of  South  America  is  a 


TREES  THAT  BUILD  CITIES         7 

typical  example  of  this  self-willed  being,  and  our 
own  wistaria  is  subject  to  the  same  tendency. 

Besides  competition  among  themselves,  the  trees 
have  to  endure  the  very  formidable  depredations  of 
certain  underworld  elements.  There  are  very 
vicious  criminals  in  every  tree  city  against  which 
only  a  weak  general  police  protection  is  opposed. 
Grafters,  gangsters,  thugs,  highwaymen,  and  mur- 
derers wage  incessant  war  and  do  incalculable  harm. 

Grafters  are  as  common  throughout  the  vegetable 
world  as  they  are  in  the  human  world,  and  trees 
are  often  their  victims.  Some  of  them,  like  the 
beautiful  orchid  or  our  familiar  morning-glory,  do 
not  take  more  than  the  not  unkindly  support  of 
some  tree's  strong  trunk  in  their  weak-kneed  ascent 
toward  light  and  air.  Others,  like  the  mistletoe, 
go  a  step  further  and  after  abandoning  all  connec- 
tion with  the  ground,  send  food-seeking  roots  into 
the  vitals  of  the  oak,  the  poplar,  or  the  elm.  But 
this  is  mere  petty  thievery  compared  to  the  incredu- 
lous rapacity  of  such  plants  as  the  Murderer  Liana 
of  the  tropics,  which  actually  chokes  to  death  the 
tree  on  whose  trunk  it  climbs  up  to  health  and 
strength. 

Parasitic  insects  reap  a  heavy  toll  in  a  tree  city. 
Several  varieties  of  these  pests  are  always  at  work 
among  the  tree  inhabitants.  Naturalists  believe 


8       THE  HUMAN  SIDE  OF  TREES 

that  a  sudden  invasion  of  exceptionally  large  hordes 
of  some  particular  species  has  often  depopulated 
entire  tree  cities  at  different  times  in  the  world's 
history.  In  recent  years  the  people  of  South  Da- 
kota and  Wyoming  have,  seen  vast  areas  ruined 
by  the  depredations  of  bark-beetles;  and  only  the 
combined  efforts  of  the  United  States  Department 
of  Agriculture  and  the  authorities  of  several  of  the 
New  England  States  prevented  very  serious  re- 
sults as  an  outcome  of  the  invasion  of  the  gipsy 
moth  and  the  browntail  moth.  Insects  can  be  held 
accountable  for  most  of  the  forest  fires.  A  wide- 
spread raid  fills  many  square  miles  with  the  bodies 
of  their  victims,  and  there  is  admirable  tinder  for 
the  lightning  to  set  ablaze. 

In  combating  vegetable  and  insect  enemies,  the 
trees  often  make  defensive  alliances  with  other 
more  friendly  neighbours.  They  shelter  birds, 
moths,  ants,  squirrels,  and  other  creatures,  and  even 
feed  them  with  their  fruit,  in  order  to  be  provided 
with  aerial  squadrons  and  standing  armies  to  fight 
for  them.  It  is  to  the  dependents'  interest  to  pro- 
tect their  benefactor  against  all  comers.  Right 
loyal  is  their  service. 

A  weak  or  invalid  tree  we  have  many  times  seen ; 
but  we  do  not  ordinarily  think  of  trees  as  being 
subject  to  disease  in  the  way  human  beings  are. 


TREES  THAT  BUILD  CITIES         9 

Yet,  in  reality,  such  is  true.  In  the  streets  of  a 
tree  city  there  always  are  deadly  germs  flying 
about.  Scientists  call  them  spores  and  their  re- 
sultant diseases  blights  or  fungous  growths,  but  the 
fact  is  that  they  often  seriously  cripple  or  kill  their 
victims.  A  tree  may  have  had  a  limb  lopped  off  by 
wind,  ice  or  fire,  or  perhaps  an  obscure  insect  has 
merely  bored  a  tiny  hole  through  its  bark.  At  any 
rate,  the  deadly  germ  gains  entrance  and  the  un- 
fortunate must  battle  with  an  enemy  which  is  at- 
tacking its  vitals. 

So  far  we  have  drawn  a  rather  dark  and  pessi- 
mistic picture  of  the  tree-citizen's  life.  Needless 
to  say,  it  has  its  sunny  side.  There  is  no  human 
being  so  sunk  in  misery  and  degradation  as  to  have 
nothing  to  be  thankful  for;  there  is  no  poor  shell  of 
a  tree  so  encompassed  by  adversity  that  it  cannot 
give  praise  for  the  rain,  the  sunlight  and  the  minis- 
trations of  friendly  plants  and  animals.  There  is 
much  selfishness  and  hard-dealing,  we  might  say 
misunderstanding,  in  a  tree  city,  but  there  is  also 
much  kindness  and  charitableness.  The  strong 
often  protect  the  weak.  Ferns  and  mosses  owe  their 
luxuriance  to  the  shade  provided  by  their  tree  neigh- 
bours. Myriads  of  the  smaller  plants,  like  the  deli- 
cate cypress  vine,  not  only  must  receive  protection 
from  the  hot  sun  and  strong  wind  at  the  feet  of 


10     THE  HUMAN  SIDE  OF  TREES 

stronger  friends,  but  must  lean  and  climb  upon 
friendly  neighbours  in  order  to  get  a  chance  in  life. 
Plants  have  a  wonderful  regard  for  friendship,  and 
are  by  nature  extremely  sociable.  They  invariably 
group  themselves  according  to  their  likes  and  dis- 
likes. 

Certain  types  of  trees  show  a  wonderful  maternal 
interest  in  their  children.  We  ordinarily  think  of 
plants  of  all  kinds  as  mechanically  producing  seeds 
and  then  placing  their  entire  development  in  the 
hands  of  Mother  Nature.  In  some  cases  this  is 
so,  as  it  is  in  human  families;  but  there  are  just 
as  many  plant-mothers  who  show  the  utmost  favour 
and  solicitude  for  their  children. 

Practically  all  trees  see  that  their  seed-babies  are 
carefully  covered  up  with  a  warm  blanket  of  leaves 
and  bark  which  also  will  furnish  nourishment  when 
the  infants  begin  to  send  their  tiny  stalks  up  into 
the  air.  The  screw-pine  frequently  drops  its  seeds 
on  the  fallen  trunk  of  some  dead  neighbour.  There 
they  sit  astride  of  perhaps  their  grandmother's  back 
and,  sending  forth  roots,  grow  to  young  maturity  on 
the  very  substance  of  an  earlier  member  of  the  fam- 
ily. A  more  striking  example  of  a  mother's  self- 
sacrifice  is  shown  by  the  sweet-gum,  sometimes 
called  gum-amber,  which  actually  plants  seeds 
within  itself.  The  tree  first  grows  hollow  within, 


TREES  THAT  BUILD  CITIES       11 

and  then  the  seeds  find  their  way  into  the  hollow. 
When  the  tree  is  ready  to  die,  the  young  take  up 
the  life-thread,  and  pushing  their  way  through 
crevices  in  the  bark,  burst  the  maternal  trunk  asun- 
der. Here  is  a  tree  which  by  perfect  analogy,  like 
the  mammals  among  animals,  shelters  its  young 
within  its  own  body. 

We  have  seen  that  a  tree  city  has  its  bad  people 
and  its  good  people — citizens  who  seem  to  be  ruled 
by  the  worst  of  the  human  passions  and  inhabitants 
who  have  those  kindlier — if  you  will,  Christian— 
attributes  that  we  all  admire.  Look  a  little  at  a 
tree  city's  mechanical  organisation.  Gas,  water, 
and  electricity — how  are  they  distributed? 

First,  consider  water,  for  it  is  the  most  vital. 
There  is  no  need  to  lay  mains,  for  nature  has  pro- 
vided underground  rocky  conduits  which  end  by 
diffusing  their  contents  through  the  sub-soils. 
Thirsty  roots  drink  up  the  water  like  miniature  fire- 
hydrants.  On  a  warm  day  a  large  tree  will  absorb 
many  tons  of  moisture.  The  water  is  taken  up  by 
the  roots  which  have  bored  deep  down  into  the  moist 
soil ;  but  how  does  it  get  upstairs  ?  This  seems  like 
a  simple  question  at  first,  but  it  is  a  pretty  little 
problem  if  studied  seriously.  Scientists  studied  it 
many  years  before  arriving  at  a  satisfactory  ex- 
planation, Thirty  feet  of  the  rise  of  water  in  a 


12     THE  HUMAN  SIDE  OF  TREES 

tree  can  be  explained  by  ordinary  atmospheric  pres- 
sure, but  many  trees  are  four  times  that  height. 

The  "hydrostatic  paradox"  gives  the  answer. 
This  tells  us  that  pressure  of  the  air  will  elevate 
a  liquid  to  any  height  providing  that  there  is  no 
continuity  of  mass.  This  condition  is  obtained  in 
the  trees  by  numerous  transverse  septa  in  the  water 
ducts  which  prevent  the  transmission  of  air  and 
water  in  bulk,  but  permit  a  very  free  molecular  dif- 
fusion of  water  and  everything  dissolved  in  it. 
This  is  much  aided  by  the  fact  that  many  air  bub- 
bles in  the  water  greatly  reduce  its  proportionate 
weight  and  make  it  virtually  foam.  Sap  will  al- 
ways bubble  out  of  a  tree  wound  like  so  much  froth. 
Much  aid  comes  from  the  leaves,  which  absorb  the 
water  as  it  reaches  them  and  transform  it  into 
starch,  thus  creating  a  vacuum  at  the  top  of  this 
internal  water  system.  When  a  tree  is  stripped  of 
its  leaves  for  any  reason,  the  ascent  of  water  stops 
and  it  is  liable  to  "bleed"  at  some  low  point  on  its 
trunk. 

The  gas  system  is  much  simpler.  The  surround- 
ing atmosphere  is  a  great  reservoir  on  which  the 
trees  draw  for  the  carbon  dioxide  so  essential  to 
their  internal  processes.  As  a  waste  product,  their 
leaves  exhale  oxygen.  From  a  man's  point  of  view, 
trees  are  atmospheric  purifiers. 


TREES  THAT  BUILD  CITIES       13 

When  the  shades  of  night  descend  on  a  tree  city, 
what  should  be  more  natural  than  that  artificial 
light  replace  the  bright  rays  of  the  sun?  Trees 
have  eyes:  that  is,  they  have  leaf-cells  which  not 
only  are  sensitive  to  light  but  which  can  sometimes 
concentrate  and  reflect  light.  Thus  it  would  not 
be  surprising  if  trees  occasionally  found  use  for 
their  eyes  at  night.  Yet  it  would  seem  that  most 
of  the  tree-citizens  are  temperate  folk  who  go  to 
bed  with  the  sun,  for  only  occasionally  do  they  use 
lights  and  then  most  frequently  in  the  quiet  depths 
of  the  tropic  forests  where  they  are  most  needed. 
The  chandeliers  are  certain  damp  and  decaying 
leaves  either  on  the  ground  or  on  the  trees.  The 
burners  are  yellow  fungous  growths  appearing  as 
yellow  spots  on  the  leaves.  The  fuel  is  the  leaves 
themselves  and  the  resultant  illumination  is  a  dull 
and  steady  phosphorescent  glow,  varying  in  colour 
with  different  leaves.  Certain  flowers,  as  the  nas- 
turtium, the  tiger  lily  and  the  sunflower,  also  help 
to  illuminate  the  city  with  the  same  kind  of  flame. 

It  must  be  admitted  by  even  the  most  enthusiastic 
naturalists  that  the  development  of  such  municipal 
departments  as  those  of  police  and  fire  is  very  much 
in  its  infancy  in  a  tree  city.  Yet  there  is  often 
indication  of  the  beginnings  of  some  splendid  sys- 
tems. Individual  trees  adopt  many  different  kinds 


14     THE  HUMAN  SIDE  OF  TREES 

of  methods  and  devices  to  protect  themselves 
against  their  enemies,  but  occasionally  there  is  a 
concerted  move  by  an  entire  group  or  community 
which  looks  extraordinarily  like  the  exercise  of 
police  power.  When  we  find  certain  trees  in  a 
tropical  forest  surrounded  with  a  wall  of  particu- 
larly thorny  underbrush,  it  rather  looks  as  though 
they  were  definitely  warning  certain  types  of  de- 
structive animals  away.  When  the  persimmon  tree, 
once  so  common  to  the  western  prairies,  finds  it 
best  to  hide  itself  almost  entirely  underground  or 
in  trenches  to  prevent  being  destroyed  by  hungry 
beasts,  it  seems  as  if  a  brain  power  were  at  worl> 
among  the  plants.  Certain  other  trees  exhale 
poisonous  gases.  The  Germans  use  the  seed  of  the 
sabadilla,  botanically  known  as  Schoenocaulon  of- 
ficenali,  for  the  manufacture  of  the  lachrymatory 
and  asphyxiating  gases  stored  in  "weeping  bombs." 
The  seeds  of  this  strange  and  interesting  plant  are 
in  form  and  colour  like  oats,  and  when  stored  they 
emit  a  piquant  smell  so  strong  as  to  make  the  eyes 
water  copiously;  they  also  make  breathing  very 
painful.  These  gases  are  equally  painful  to  animal 
and  insect,  and  it  can  unquestionably  be  said  that 
the  plant  is  using  a  police  if  not  a  military  measure. 
Plants  like  the  gas  plant  exhale  gas  all  the  time — 
thus  the  name. 


TREES  THAT  BUILD  CITIES       15 

There  are  whole  shelves  of  fire  extinguishers  in 
almost  every  tree-house  of  the  tree  cities.  Let  a 
fire  start  to  smoulder  among  the  gutter  rubbish  of  a 
tree-alley,  and  at  once  the  ascending  smoke  and  heat 
detach  various  leaves  from  the  overhanging  bal- 
conies above.  These,  falling  to  the  ground,  explode 
with  an  energetic  little  pop  as  they  burn  and  so 
tend  to  both  smother  and  blow  the  fire  out.  Their 
efforts,  as  in  the  human  parallel,  are  often  unavail- 
ing, but  it  is  worth  while  for  them  to  make  the 
attempt. 

Man  is  the  tree  city's  greatest  enemy.  With 
his  keen  axe  and  blinded  commercial  eye  he  has  ut- 
terly wiped  out  millions  of  leafy  dwelling  places — 
not  carefully  and  considerately  as  one  who  does 
what  necessity  compels  or  one  who  even  has  his 
eye  on  his  own  best  interests,  but  wantonly  and  with 
almost  diabolical  mischievousness.  The  result  is 
that  the  United  States  is  becoming  greatly  alarmed 
over  its  available  timber  supply.  A  little  careful 
forestry  fifty  or  seventy-five  years  ago  would  have 
guaranteed  an  adequate  supply  for  all  time. 

Through  the  art  of  sylviculture,  man  can  estab- 
lish, develop  and  even  reproduce  tree  cities ;  and  this 
he  can  do  either  by  the  natural  reproduction  of  trees, 
or  by  artificial  seeding  and  planting.  The  demand 
for  pine  flooring  and  other  things  makes  it  de- 


16     THE  HUMAN  SIDE  OF  TREES 

sirable  and  lucrative  for  him  to  continually  produce 
lumber,  but,  instead  of  reducing  some  tree  city  to 
a  barren,  burnt-over  waste,  he  can  cut  the  trees  on 
a  selective  system,  leaving  the  younger  ones  to  reach 
maturity.  Only  such  precautions  will  insure  the 
continuance  and  growth  of  tree  cities,  and  tree  cities 
are  the  greatest  assurance  that  man-made  cities 
will  continue  to  grow  and  flourish  as  they  have  in 
the  past. 


II 

TREES  WITH  A  PERSONALITY 

Most  beautiful 
Of  forest  trees — The  Lady  of  the  Woods. 

— COLERIDGE. 

TVTO WHERE  are  character  and  personality 
•*•  *  more  strikingly  illustrated  than  in  the  trees. 
Anybody  who  is  thrown  in  contact  with  them  at  all 
soon  begins  to  recognise  their  individual  traits  and 
peculiarities.  In  fact,  it  is  a  question  whether  some 
trees  do  not  exhibit  more  pronounced  egos  than 
most  animals  and  quite  a  few  men.  Each  tree  has 
character,  meaning,  expression  and  shows  a  won- 
derful power  of  adaptability. 

Despite  the  fact  that  to  the  non-observing  all 
maples  may  look  alike,  we  all  know  that  the  con- 
tour, shape,  branching  and  leaf  arrangement  of 
each  are  different.  They  have  racial  traits  in  com- 
mon, but  each  is  greatly  differentiated  from  its 
neighbour.  They  are  not  cast  in  moulds  like  clay 
pigeons. 

Generations  of  tree  longings,  aspirations,  ambi- 
17 


18     THE  HUMAN  SIDE  OF  TREES 

tions  and  hopes  have  created  in  their  forms  a  uni- 
versal element  of  nobility  and  high-mindedness 
which  is  excelled  by  no  other  living  creatures.  They 
quicken  our  finer  sensibilities  and  purge  our 
thoughts.  To  be  among  their  sweet-smelling  fra- 
grance is  to  get  a  breath  from  heaven,  and  their  play- 
ful charm  is  felt  by  all  in  their  presence.  Perhaps 
the  day  is  near  at  hand  when  we  will  better  appre- 
ciate the  meaning  of  the  Garden  of  Eden,  and  why 
it  was  that  Adam  and  Eve  were  driven  from  that 
natural  paradise  when  they  had  sinned.  The  for- 
bidden fruit  has  a  marvellous  significance  which 
man  does  not  yet  understand.  In  our  relation  to 
different  trees  there  is  still  much  to  be  solved. 

The  world's  history  is  full  of  instances  when  men 
of  great  mind  and  sincere  purpose  have  learned  to 
love  some  grand  old  tree  exactly  as  they  would  a 
human  friend.  Poets  like  Lowell  and  Whittier 
had  their  favourite  trees  to  whom  they  resorted 
for  greatest  inspiration;  Joyce  Kilmer  in  his  poem 
"Trees"  has  shown  an  appreciation  which  is  pro- 
phetic of  our  future  regard  for  them.  One  can 
understand  the  sentiment  with  which  a  dying  man 
recently  bequeathed  a  little  circle  of  land  around 
a  beloved  tree  to  the  tree  itself!  Such  a  bequest 
may  be  invalid  in  the  courts,  but  it  is  safe  to  predict 
that  the  little  iron  fence  which  was  erected  to  carry 


TREES  WITH  A  PERSONALITY     10 

out  the  will's  decree  and  the  explanatory  tablet 
nailed  to  the  old  friend's  bark  will  not  be  disturbed 
for  many  years  to  come.  Such  tenderness  is  more 
touching  than  a  million-dollar  philanthropy. 

Some  trees  show  their  personalities  by  the  very 
places  they  select  for  their  homes.  Willows,  man- 
groves and  cypresses  which  like  the  damp  places  of 
the  earth  are  quite  different  creatures  from  the 
sturdy  pines  and  hemlocks  which  elect  the  wind- 
swept hillsides.  Every  tree  has  pronounced  tastes 
not  only  as  to  habitat  but  in  colour,  leafage,  bark, 
flowers  and  even  perfumes ! 

Perhaps  the  most  common  tree  in  the  northern 
United  States  is  the  oak.  Even  a  man  who  scarcely 
knows  one  tree  from  another  can  usually  pick  out 
any  member  of  this  famous  family  of  wind-buffers. 

Most  poets  award  the  kingship  among  trees  to 
"lord  of  the  woods,  the  long-surviving  oak."  Many 
American  tree-lovers  would  have  ample  grounds  on 
which  to  challenge  this  decree,  if  they  based  their 
entire  decision  on  the  sometimes  scrubby  members 
of  the  oak  family  in  their  home  country;  but  a 
consideration  of  oaks  all  over  the  world,  particularly 
the  splendid  specimens  of  the  British  Isles,  leads 
to  the  conclusion  that  the  choice  is  well  warranted. 

No  other  tree  is  a  better  embodiment  of  rugged 
masculinity  tempered  by  majestic  mien.  The  pop- 


20     THE  HUMAN  SIDE  OF  TREES 

lar  may  evade  the  elements  by  inclining  upwards, 
the  elm  may  lessen  their  stress  by  arching  its  back, 
the  willow  may  even  bow  subserviently  before  them, 
but  the  oak  meets  them  evenly  and  squarely  like  a 
mighty  warrior.  It  sends  massive  horizontal 
branches  out  into  their  very  teeth.  Its  knotted 
limbs  and  huge  trunk  bear  the  marks  of  many  com- 
bats, yet  when  its  round,  spreading  crown  is  clothed 
in  its  mantle  of  royal  green,  no  human  potentate 
ever  made  a  more  courtly  picture.  Its  attributes 
are  age,  power,  endurance  and  patience.  To  these 
the  live  oak  of  the  South  adds  a  chaotic  arrange- 
ment of  limbs  an  artist  once  described  as  "pic- 
turesqueness  gone  mad." 

The  maple  has  many  friends  in  the  human  world. 
Each  man  is  apt  to  pick  out  a  favourite  which  comes 
nearest  to  reflecting  his  own  character.  Many  va- 
rieties of  maple  seem  to  combine  sturdy  self-reli- 
ance with  soft  gracefulness  in  an  attractive  manner. 
Their  trim  and  compact  bodies  have  a  certain  ma- 
jestic femininity  about  them.  We  might  consider 
them  the  queens  of  the  tree  world.  They  show  an 
economical  and  effective  arrangement  of  their  small 
but  comely  leaves  which  smacks  of  dressmaking. 
They  are  the  female  editions  of  the  oak. 

Autumn  is  their  gala  season.  In  their  brave 
gowns  of  gold  and  scarlet,  no  competitor  presents 


TREES  WITH  A  PERSONALITY    21 

a  more  brilliant  picture.  The  leaves  fall  all  to- 
gether as  if  the  maples  through  over-brilliance  of 
colour  had  literally  burned  themselves  out. 

The  elm  is  typical  of  the  tender  and  home-loving 
woman.  It  is  at  its  best  when  standing  before  a 
lowly  cottage  door.  It  is  the  most  easily  domesti- 
cated of  the  trees.  It  fits  in  equally  well  on  a  great 
meadow,  along  a  quiet  road  or  on  a  college  campus. 
Unusually  symmetrical  of  line,  it  is  very  popular 
for  ornamental  uses.  Nothing  is  more  beautiful 
than  a  street  of  high-arching  New  England  elms. 
Their  homely  yet  graceful  qualities  make  them  ex- 
ceptionally appropriate  among  the  haunts  of  men. 

The  elm  shows  a  passionate  desire  for  growth  and 
expansion.  Its  upward,  vase-like  growth  is  a  sym- 
bol of  eternal  yearning.  It  is  noted  for  covering 
its  trunk  with  tender  green  twigs.  The  many 
suckers  sent  up  by  its  roots  are  usually  destroyed 
by  animals  or  man's  ploughing  activities.  An  Eng- 
lish elm  is  overjoyed  when  it  finds  a  nearby  hedge. 
Under  this  lucky  shelter  it  can  develop  hundreds 
of  shoots  which  will  eventually  supplant  the  hedge 
itself.  If  the  surplus  is  cut  away,  a  fine  line  of  full- 
grown  trees  will  be  the  result. 

Who  that  is  country-bred  among  us  is  not  un- 
consciously thrown  back  into  his  childhood  by  the 
sight  of  the  swaying,  feathery  top  of  an  elm? 


22     THE  HUMAN  SIDE  OF  TREES 

Turbulent  streets  and  noises  disappear  and  are  sup- 
planted by  hay-filled  barns,  yellow  winding  roads 
and  azure-filled  rivers. 

The  wafer  ash  is  a  miniature  tree,  and  although 
it  is  only  six  feet  in  height,  it  produces  a  broad, 
well-rounded  head  which  it  proudly  holds  aloft  as 
if  to  say,  "It  isn't  the  size  that  determines  the  power 
of  a  tree's  personality!"  Years  ago  it  gave  up  the 
struggle  for  sunlight  and  decided  to  live  happily 
in  the  shade  like  its  friend,  the  papaw.  This  tiny 
ash  thrives  from  the  north  shore  of  Lake  Ontario 
to  the  southern  mountains  of  Mexico,  and  its  tender 
regard  for  the  welfare  of  its  children  is  remarkable. 
The  tiny  seeds  are  carefully  wrapped  in  a  closed 
wooden  box,  or  a  two-seeded  samara,  and  upon 
each  side  of  this  little  oblong  box  grows  a  thin  mem- 
branous wing,  which  continues  to  enlarge  until  each 
meets  the  other  and  they  unite  into  one  wing  or 
biplane  which  will  float  away  at  the  least  amount 
of  wind.  These  babies  are  kept  at  home  until  early 
winter  when  the  winds  are  strong — then  they  fly 
away. 

The  birch  is  the  "lady  of  the  woods."  All  the 
poets  agree  upon  that.  With  its  slender,  graceful 
body,  high-flung  arms  and  outstretched  hands,  it 
seems  like  an  airy  dancing  girl  poised  on  tip-toe. 
Its  wild,  flowing  hair  gives  it  the  deceitful  beauty  of 


THE  STURDY,  WIND-DEFYING  YELLOW  PINE 


THE  AMERICAN  ELM  IS  FAIRY-LIKE  IN  EARLY  SPRING 


TREES  WITH  A  PERSONALITY     23 

a  siren.  Delicately  white  or  slightly  brown  skin 
enables  it  to  stand  out  in  strong  contrast  to  its  more 
sombre  neighbours.  The  paper  or  canoe-birch  is 
a  tall  damsel  who  stands  high  and  free  above  her 
less  aspiring  comrades,  discarding  her  lower 
branches  as  she  goes.  Birches  often  show  a  maid- 
enly timidity  about  dwelling  in  the  deep  woods. 
They  prefer  the  edges  of  the  forest  or  the  larger 
open  spaces.  Yet  some  varieties  have  acquired 
hardy  "new  woman"  qualities  which  make  them 
strong  and  adaptable  and  even  carry  them  to  alti- 
tudes so  high  that  only  the  pines  are  their  com- 
panions. 

Who  does  not  love  the  righteous,  up-standing 
pine — the  puritan  among  trees?  Its  rigid  tenacity 
of  life  among  the  most  extreme  hardships  of  cold 
and  gale  arouses  all  our  admiration.  Yet  it  can 
endure  southern  heat  and  drought  quite  as  bravely. 
With  all  its  frontier  austerity  the  pine  has  its  softer 
sides.  It  is  the  ^Eolian  harp  of  the  forest.  Its 
mysterious  and  awe-inspiring  music  forever  floats 
upon  the  breeze.  It  is  the  home  of  wild  doves  and 
wood  pigeons.  Its  strange  and  fascinating  per- 
fume mounts  heavenward  at  all  times. 

Ruskin  describes  the  pine  most  exquisitely:  "It 
is  trained  to  need  nothing  and  to  endure  every- 
thing. It  is  reservedly  whole,  self-contained,  de- 


24     THE  HUMAN  SIDE  OF  TREES 

siring  nothing  but  righteousness,  content  with  re- 
stricted completion.  Tall  or  short,  it  will  be 
straight.  Small  or  large,  it  will  be  round.  It  may 
be  permitted  to  those  soft  lowland  trees  that  they 
should  make  themselves  gay  with  show  of  blossom, 
and  glad  with  pretty  charities  of  f ruitfulness.  We 
builders  with  the  sword  have  harder  work  to  do 
for  man,  and  must  do  it  in  close-set  troops." 

The  whole  group  of  conifers  and  evergreens  have 
very  similar  qualities.  They  are  all  patient  en- 
durers  of  snow  and  cold — astronomer-like  dwellers 
in  high  places;  sturdy  climbers  up  precipitous 
slopes.  The  firs,  the  hemlocks  and  the  spruces  are 
the  only  trees  with  the  courage  to  fling  their  leaves 
into  the  teeth  of  a  nor'wester.  The  leaves  are  spe- 
cially constructed  for  such  hardships.  Their  sur- 
face has  been  so  reduced  that  they  are  truly  little 
more  than  needles  off  which  snow  and  ice  readily 
slide.  Still  they  do  the  work  for  which  they  were 
created  and  add  a  delightful  zest  to  the  winter 
landscape,  besides  forming  the  winter  homes  of 
northern  birds.  A  man  may  think  a  maple  in  spring 
the  essence  of  pure  green  until  he  has  walked 
through  a  snow-decked  evergreen  forest  in  Jan- 
uary. A  more  peculiarly  delightful  sight  is  hard 
to  imagine.  The  familiar  resinous  fragrances  are 
in  themselves  extracts  of  health  and  vitality. 


TREES  WITH  A  PERSONALITY    25 

The  cedar  is  another  interesting  conifer,  though 
not  quite  so  rigorous  and  north-loving  in  type.  It  is 
possibly  the  most  high-bred  and  aristocratic  tree  in 
existence.  In  it  the  dignity  of  high  position  and 
languorous  luxury  are  subtly  mixed.  A  specimen 
usually  dies  if  a  single  branch  is  cut  off,  as  if  dis- 
mayed by  such  a  personal  offence.  The  peculiar, 
up-and-down  motion  of  its  branches  in  a  wind  gives 
a  forceful  impression  of  sailing  or  floating.  Large 
individuals  like  the  famous  Cedars  of  Lebanon  are 
majestically  impressive.  The  foliage  often  rises 
in  a  series  of  terrace-like  banks. 

"By  the  waters  of  Babylon  we  sat  down  and  wept,  when  we 

remembered  thee, 

O  Zion!     As  for  our  harps  we  hanged  them  up  upon  the 
willow  trees  that  are  therein." — PSALM  137. 

The  willow  is  quite  another  sort.  There  are  many 
kinds  beside  the  weeping  variety  and  many  hybrids, 
but  all  partake  of  that  supple,  bending  grace  which 
.characterises  the  family.  It  is  really  too  bad  that 
the  harp  incident  of  the  exiled  Jews  should  have 
destined  the  Salix  Babilonica  to  weep  forever! 
While  the  languid  droop  of  the  tree's  whole  outer 
system  of  twigs  may  be  interpreted  as  sorrow,  it 
is  also  quite  possible  to  see  it  in  a  certain  serene 
grace  and  joy.  When  a  woman  hangs  her  head 
on  her  lover's  breast  she  is  not  sad.  She  is  merely 


26     THE  HUMAN  SIDE  OF  TREES 

happy.  The  willow  then  should  be  classified  as  a 
joyous  and  serenely  placid  maiden,  a  fit  adornment 
to  peaceful  river  or  pastoral  domicile. 

There  is  a  tradition  that  all  the  willows  originally 
came  out  of  the  far  north.  The  dwarf  willows 
propagate  by  sending  out  underground  trailers 
which  send  up  new  stems.  This  is  a  common  habit 
of  frost-encompassed  arctic  plants.  The  herbaceous 
willow,  when  growing  high  upon  mountains,  often 
hides  entirely  underground  with  the  exception  of 
tiny  shoots  which  only  rise  a  few  inches  above  the 
earth. 

We  do  not  hear  enough  about  the  beeches.  These 
strong,  graceful  trees  of  astounding  beauty  are 
veritable  Beau  Brummels  of  the  forest.  Their 
round  smooth  bark  is  the  finest  overcoat  in  treeland. 
Their  well-shaped,  densely  grouped  leaves  are 
glossy  and  glitteringly  green.  There  is  a  fine  deli- 
cate tracery  among  their  multitudinous  twigs. 

Their  handsome  looks  have  made  the  beeches  a 
trifle  conceited.  While  very  sociable  with  their  own 
kind,  they  usually  resent  intrusion.  They  are  jeal- 
ous capitalists  who  by  deep  black  shadows  even 
prevent  the  humbler  plants  from  growing  in  their 
immediate  vicinity.  But  my,  how  they  dress !  The 
bark  fabric  which  covers  their  strong,  mast-like 


TREES  WITH  A  PERSONALITY    27 

bodies  is  of  a  shade  and  texture  which  stamps  it  as 
of  the  best. 

The  ash  is  another  handsome  fellow,  or  more  ap- 
priately,  a  stately  Greek  goddess.  More  than  one 
writer  has  called  it  a  woodland  Venus.  Its  lofty 
and  well-proportioned  strength  is  suffused  with  a 
grace  and  beauty  seen  most  often  in  classic  statues 
of  the  female  form.  It  maintains  a  noticeable  re- 
serve and  aloofness  quite  consistent  with  god-like 
attributes.  Its  bark  is  of  excellent  texture  with 
fine  vertical  lines.  The  birch  is  the  young  and 
sprightly  Aphrodite.  The  ash  is  a  stately  and 
mature  Venus  or  Athena.  Ruskin  thought  it  the 
loveliest  of  trees.  The  ancient  Scandinavians  con- 
sidered their  ash-tree  Yggdrasill  the  source  and  up- 
holder of  the  universe. 

The  chestnuts  are  rugged  gladiators.  They  seem 
to  be  eternally  on  the  defensive  with  short,  heavy 
branches  spread  broadly  against  the  sky.  In  their 
militant  erectness  they  delight  in  sparse  clumsy 
twigs.  Their  great  horizontal  boughs  sometimes 
sweep  their  magnificent  five-fingered,  accordion- 
pleated  leaves  on  the  ground  as  if  to  ward  off  creep- 
ing attacks.  The  horse  chestnut  is  the  most  power- 
ful of  this  group  and  has  all  the  nobility  of  its 
animal  namesake. 

The  sycamore  is  another  warrior — a  veritable 


28     THE  HUMAN  SIDE  OF  TREES 

giant  in  stature  and  all  covered  over  with  the  marks 
of  many  conflicts.  Its  trunk  is  very  smooth  and 
a  sort  of  pale  yellow  in  color.  The  serpentine 
branches  are  pale  grey  disfigured  with  great 
blotches  of  white,  presumably  wounds  or  rents  in 
a  defensive  armour.  The  sycamore  is  truly  ma- 
jestic in  a  pristine  sort  of  way.  Breadth  almost  as 
great  as  height  and  a  regular  system  of  branching 
create  a  feeling  of  rugged  strength.  The  leaves 
of  the  sycamore  are  delicately  scalloped  in  three- 
pointed  designs. 

The  poplar  is  an  extremely  slender  and  fairy- 
like  girl  who  has  gathered  up  her  skirts  to  get  clear 
of  the  mud.  The  upslanting  character  of  the 
branches  reaches  its  culmination  in  the  Lombardy 
variety,  where  they  almost  parallel  the  main  stem, 
creating  the  well-known  spire  appearance.  The 
Lombardy  poplar  is  more  like  a  spouting  flame  or 
water  jet  than  anything  human.  It  produces  in 
appearance  one  of  the  most  startling  effects  in  all 
treedom,  especially  when  a  number  of  individuals 
are  growing  in  a  line.  In  winter  it  becomes  a  wraith 
of  true  spirit  transparency.  All  the  poplars  are 
quick  growers  and  short  livers.  They  prefer  the 
open  spaces  of  the  earth. 

When  Tennyson  represented  Death  as  "walking 
all  alone  beneath  a  yew,"  he  caught  the  keynote 


TREES  WITH  A  PERSONALITY     3d 

of  this  tree's  character.  It  is  the  witch  or  wizard 
among  trees.  Its  immense  columned  trunk  and 
symmetrical  mass  of  dark  green  foliage  lend  it  a 
certain  air  of  distinction,  but  one  instinctively  feels 
that  its  deep  and  sombre  recesses  are  the  places  for 
muttered  spells  and  incantations.  It  seems  to  be 
always  whispering  to  itself.  The  wind  sighs  and 
soughs  through  it.  Its  plumed  and  heavy  form  has 
a  weird  fascination.  There  are  many  English  yews 
which  have  attained  a  great  age.  The  trunk  is 
usually  a  composite  formed  by  minor  stems  which 
have  coalesced  with  the  original  trunk. 

In  the  tropics,  they  always  think  of  the  palm  as 
an  emblem  of  victory.  Its  leaves  have  been  used 
as  a  symbol  of  military  success  from  earliest  times. 
It  must  be  at  heart  a  great  and  invincible  warrior. 
It  has  dignity,  poise  and  sturdy  strength  softened 
by  attractive  and  kingly  grace.  It  embodies  a  feel- 
ing of  exultation  and  joyous  exuberance.  The  vari- 
ous parts  of  its  body  are  exceptionally  serviceable 
to  man. 

Every  race  has  its  great  moral  teachers — its 
prophets,  its  zealous  priests.  The  tree  kind  are  no 
exception.  The  huge  sequoias  and  redwoods  have 
an  indescribable  religious  appearance.  They  form 
with  their  bodies  great  natural  temples  which  are 
more  awe-inspiring  than  any  man-made  cathedral. 


30     THE  HUMAN  SIDE  OF  TREES 

With  all  their  terrible  majesty,  they  have  a  very 
mild,  kindly  feeling  toward  man.  Coming,  as  they 
do,  from  vaguely  remote  ages,  they  have  an  air  of 
the  infinite  about  them.  Their  wood  is  almost  in- 
destructible. A  stump  thirty  years  old  often  shows 
so  little  decay  that  the  concentric  lines  of  its  diary 
can  still  be  read. 

When  walking  amid  their  curiously  fluted  and 
buttressed  bases,  with  the  sunlight  sifting  through 
the  leaves  above  as  if  through  stained  glass,  men  of 
evil  pasts  have  been  known  to  go  temporarily  in- 
sane through  an  unspeakable  fear  and  apprehen- 
sion. To  the  righteous  and  clean  of  conscience  the 
Big  Trees  bring  peace  and  an  inexplicable  exul- 
tation. 

These  are  some  of  the  more  common  and  char- 
acteristic tree  personalities.  Of  others  there  are 
hundreds.  Each  and  every  tree  as  with  each  and 
every  human  being  has  its  distinct  personality. 

The  lime  is  a  poetical,  debonair  little  creature, 
most  willing  to  lend  its  beauty  to  the  long  vistas  of 
English  avenues.  When  the  sun  shines  on  its  yel- 
low autumn  leaves  they  turn  to  burnished  gold. 

The  alders  and  hazels  are  tree-dwarfs,  which  for 
personal  advantage  have  adopted  bush-like  meth- 
ods. Their  matted  roots  are  of  service  in  protect- 


TREES  WITH  A  PERSONALITY    31 

ing  the  banks  of  water  courses  from  stream  ero- 
sion. 

The  lignum-vitse  is  a  tropical  fairy.  Its  light- 
coloured  bark,  light  green  leaves  and  pale  blue 
flowers  which  peep  out  in  great  profusion,  give  it 
the  airy,  spritely  aspect  of  a  wood-nympth. 

The  wild  cherry,  with  its  beautiful  red-bronze 
bark,  is  a  miser.  It  is  so  niggardly  that  it  cannot 
bring  itself  to  part  with  its  own  dead  branches  but 
retains  them  indefinitely. 

The  low,  broad  apple  trees  divide  their  strong 
horizontal  branches  into  a  perfect  frenzy  of  little 
twigs. 

The  hornbeam  is  even  more  perverse  and  does  all 
it  can  to  tie  its  branches  into  knots.  When  wounded 
it  exudes  a  sap  which  turns  blood-red  on  exposure 
to  the  air. 

The  black  locust  is  a  tramp  and  a  vagabond.  Its 
ragged  and  shabby  appearance  is  accentuated  when 
winter  winds  strip  it  of  its  leaves. 

The  study  of  trees  quickens  our  love  for  them. 
It  is  not  necessary  to  learn  their  scientific  names, 
the  peculiarities  of  their  bark  and  their  leaf  struc- 
ture, in  a  dry,  school-boy  fashion.  The  best  way 
to  know  a  man  is  to  get  acquainted  with  him.  We 
do  not  worry  about  the  height,  weight  and  exact 


32     THE  HUMAN  SIDE  OF  TREES 

racial  extraction  of  our  friends.  Knowledge  of 
these  things  comes  through  the  association  of  many 
years.  In  some  such  way  we  should  get  to  know 
the  trees  and  their  personalities. 


Ill 

TREE  PHYSIOLOGY 

Full  in  the  midst  of  his  own  strength  he  stands, 
Stretching  his  brawny  arms  and  leafy  hands. 
His  shade  protects  the  plains,  his  head  the  hills  commands. 

— VIRGIL. 

ORDINARILY  no  one  thinks  of  saying  that 
a  tree  is  structurally  or  organically  like  a 
man.  In  fact,  we  do  not  often  worry  about  the 
functions  of  a  tree's  body  at  all;  we  think  of  it 
as  "just  growing."  A  man  has  a  heart,  a  stomach, 
a  liver  and  a  score  of  other  components  which  are 
always  getting  out  of  order.  A  tree  has  none  of 
these,  yet  it  has  some  very  definite  organs  which 
perform  miracles  in  the  transformation  of  matter 
quite  as  capably  as  the  human  variety.  Like  our- 
selves, the  trees  draw  upon  substances  about  them 
to  build  up  a  bodily  structure  of  marvellous  per- 
manency and  efficiency. 

A  tree  is  a  little  lacking  in  nerves  and  highly 
specialised  internal  organs  but  it  has  parts  which 

perform  their  functions.     For  one  thing,  it  has  a 
33 


34     THE  HUMAN  SIDE  OF  TREES 

very  definitely  developed  skeleton.  One  would  be 
inclined  to  say  at  first  thought  that  a  tree  was  all 
skeleton.  "The  great  mass  of  a  tree  trunk  is  com- 
posed of  hard,  mineral-filled  cells  in  which  life  is 
extinct.  They  form  the  great  bone-like  structure 
of  heartwood  which  holds  the  tree  aloft  and  en- 
dures for  long  periods  of  time. 

Surrounding  the  heartwood  from  the  tiniest  root 
to  the  highest  branch  is  the  one  vital  and  vulner- 
able organ  of  the  tree:  the  cambium  layer.  This 
interesting  tree  organ  is  a  slimy  and  colourless 
group  of  wood  cells  which  covers  the  entire  plant 
like  an  undergarment.  It  contains  within  its  pro- 
toplasm the  vital  life  principle.  Here  is  where 
all  growth  takes  place.  It  is  muscular  and  nervous 
systems  combined.  Girdle  a  tree  so  as  to  expose 
the  cambium  layer  and  everything  above  the  wound 
will  die. 

The  delicate  cells  of  the  cambium  layer  propagate 
by  division.  On  one  side  they  produce  sapwood, 
which  for  a  few  years  is  used  for  the  circulation  of 
liquids  and  the  storage  of  starch,  but  finally  through 
continual  accretions  of  mineral  deposits  solidifies 
into  heartwood.  On  the  other  side,  they  add  bark 
which  is  the  tree's  outer  skin. 

The  sap  is  of  course  the  tree's  blood.  As  a  me- 
dium of  circulation  it  carries  absorbed  water  and 


TREE  PHYSIOLOGY  35 

minerals  up  from  the  roots  to  the  leaves,  where  by 
a  digestive  process  they  are  chemically  transformed 
to  meet  the  tree's  needs.  This  material  is  then  dis- 
tributed as  required  or  stored  up  by  certain  cells 
for  future  use.  Tree  blood  often  contains  sub- 
stances valuable  for  the  use  of  man.  He  does  not 
hesitate  to  appropriate  large  quantities,  but,  luckily, 
a  tree  does  not  bleed  to  death  as  easily  as  a  human 
being. 

The  bark  we  have  already  alluded  to  as  tree- 
skin.  It  covers  and  protects  every  square  inch  of 
the  tree's  permanent  body.  Without  it  the  cam- 
bium layer  would  perish.  It  is  impervious  to  the 
passage  of  water  and  gases  except  through  pores 
called  lenticels.  The  mouths  of  these  are  fitted 
with  cork  filters  which  makes  them  hard  to  see  ex- 
cept on  very  young  branches.  Through  the  lenti- 
cels air  is  admitted  and  withdrawn  from  the  cam- 
bium layer  in  a  sort  of  respiratory  process.  In 
the  absence  of  the  leaves  the  bark  also  carries  on 
the  work  of  transpiration,  which  is  similar  to  per- 
spiration in  man.  Bark  is  composed  of  dead  wood 
and  cork  cells  which  under  expanding  pressure 
crack  into  the  characteristic  plates  which  are  such 
a  great  help  in  identifying  trees.  In  the  cork  oak 
from  which  we  get  our  commercial  supply,  the  cork 
grows  to  a  remarkable  thickness  and  can  be  taken 


36     THE  HUMAN  SIDE  OF  TREES 

off  every  eight  or  ten  years  without  injury  to  the 
tree. 

A  tree  is  many-mouthed.  Its  immense  system 
of  roots,  often  as  extensive  as  the  portion  above 
ground,  is  engaged  in  the  sole  business  of  sucking 
and  drinking  in  nutriment  from  the  soil.  Botan- 
ically,  a  root  is  that  portion  of  the  plant  axis  which 
does  not  bear  leaves,  normally  grows  downward 
and  is  fixed  in  the  soil.  It  is  simpler  in  form  than 
the  aerial  branches,  and  is  irregular  in  its  method 
of  division.  The  growing  point  is  just  back  of 
the  tip  of  each  rootlet.  At  the  tip  is  a  sort  of  pro- 
tective shield  or  cap  which  the  expansive  power  of 
cell  division  forces  through  the  earth  much  as  tun- 
nel-diggers bore  their  way  along.  Still  farther  back 
from  the  tip  are  the  root  hairs,  long  hollow  single 
cells  which  absorb  moisture  from  the  surrounding 
soil  by  capillary  attraction.  In  this  moisture  is  dis- 
solved valuable  mineral  salts  essential  to  the  tree's 
economy. 

In  many  ways  the  leaves  are  the  most  wonder- 
ful parts  of  the  tree.  They  are  stomachs  and  lungs 
combined.  Out  of  crude  sap,  with  the  assistance  of 
air  and  sunlight,  they  elaborate  plant  food  capable 
of  assimilation.  At  the  same  time,  they  breathe 
out  through  their  stomates  vast  quantities  of  water 
and  other  waste  products.  They  are  really  thin 


\\HKttK  CYPRESS  TREES  RISE  ABOVE  THE  WATER  ON  HOOT-STILTS 


TREE  PHYSIOLOGY  37 

sections  of  the  vital  cambium  layer  which  cou- 
rageously come  out  into  the  open  to  perform  cer- 
tain vital  duties. 

On  a  clear  bright  day  each  leaf  is  a  busy  little 
factory  for  the  manufacture  of  starch.  The  sun 
furnishes  the  motive  power  and  the  air  and  ascend- 
ing sap  the  raw  materials.  Carbon  dioxide  from 
the  atmosphere  is  the  main  ingredient.  It  is  clev- 
erly combined  with  sap-water  to  form  starch.  The 
combination  C6Hi0O5  leaves  a  surplus  of  free 
oxygen  which  promptly  passes  back  into  the  air 
through  the  stomates.  This  withdrawal  of  CO2 
and  the  substitution  of  oxygen  is  an  important  puri- 
fication of  the  atmosphere  from  man's  point  of  view. 
With  the  oxygen,  vast  quantities  of  water  are  also 
liberated,  except  in  very  hot  weather  when  the  clos- 
ing of  the  elastic  curtains  or  doors  of  the  stomates 
makes  for  the  conservation  of  this  important  sub- 
stance. On  an  ordinary  day,  when  plenty  of  mois- 
ture is  to  be  had,  a  medium-sized  oak  will  evaporate 
150  to  180  gallons  of  water. 

The  minerals  in  the  sap  aid  but  do  not  enter  into 
the  starch-making.  Carried  to  other  parts  of  the 
tree,  they  are  vital  factors  in  construction  work. 
With  the  setting  sun,  the  green  leaf-laboratories 
shut  down. 

On  the  approach  of  winter,  the  leaves  undergo 


38     THE  HUMAN  SIDE  OF  TREES 

a  remarkable  change.  The  tree  withdraws  into  its 
interior  the  carbohydrates  and  the  albuminous  sub- 
stances composing  the  leaf -pulp.  The  chlorophyll 
or  green  colouring-matter  changes  chemically  to 
form,  with  deposited  iron  and  other  minerals,  the 
bright  colours  emblematic  of  the  season.  The 
leaves  grow  shrivelled  and  unattractive  until  the 
corky  rings  at  their  bases  finally  give  way  and  they 
fall.  What  little  substance  of  value  they  contain 
goes  to  enrich  the  soil  below.  Next  year  the  tree 
will  have  a  whole  new  set  of  lung-stomachs. 

Leaves  of  a  few  tree  families  indolently  remain 
on  the  boughs  all  winter.  They  are  there  by  suf- 
ferance only  and  serve  no  needed  purpose. 

The  flowers  are  the  trees'  organs  of  reproduction. 
All  trees  have  them,  though  in  some  they  are  in 
the  form  of  inconspicuous  catkins  which  are  liable 
to  be  overlooked.  On  the  other  hand,  many  tree- 
flowers,  notably  those  of  the  edible  fruits,  are  as 
luxurious  and  beautiful  as  any  garden  favourite. 

Most  trees  are  bi-sexual.  They  bear  flowers 
which  contain  both  stamens  and  pistils,  or  produce 
blossoms  which  though  individually  of  one  sex  occur 
in  both  male  and  female  form  on  the  same  tree. 
The  stamens  manufacture  the  floury  pollen  which 
is  conveyed  by  wind  or  insect  to  other  trees.  The 
pistils  receive  visiting  grains  of  the  male  element, 


TREE  PHYSIOLOGY  39 

which,  descending  into  the  ovaries,  add  to  the  tiny 
ovules  the  principle  which  will  make  them  potential 
trees.  Whenever  self-fertilisation  occurs,  degen- 
eracy is  the  usual  result. 

Scientifically,  tree-flowers  are  modified  leaves. 
Besides  the  pistils  and  stamens  each  one  is  made 
up  of  a  calyx,  an  outer  cup-shaped  organ,  and  a 
corolla  or  flower  proper,  which  is  nearly  always 
divided  into  petals. 

A  tree-fruit  is  a  ripened  pistil.  Fruits  are  some- 
times the  product  of  a  number  of  pistils  contained 
in  the  same  flower,  or  even  of  a  cluster  of  flowers. 
In  many  trees,  the  fruits  are  small  and  of  little 
food  value  to  man.  Occasionally,  a  tree  covers  its 
seeds  with  generous  gifts  of  juicy  and  attractive 
pulps.  These  fruits  become  of  the  highest  interest 
and  by  careful  cultivation  are  made  to  attain  their 
maximum  development. 

It  is  a  profound  thought  to  realise  that  the  larg- 
est and  most  majestic  tree  was  once  a  tiny  seed. 
In  that  insignificant  off  spring  of  vegetable  life  was 
the  vital  principle  which  was  in  essence  a  tree.  The 
growth  and  development  of  the  plant  was  a  mere 
setting  in  motion  of  a  structure  and  an  organisation 
already  possessed. 

If  we  examine  the  embryo  forest  giant,  we  find 
that,  in  most  cases,  it  contains  a  radicle  or  germ  of  a 


40     THE  HUMAN  SIDE  OF  TREES 

future  root,  a  plumule  or  incipient  stem  and  a  vast 
quantity,  comparatively,  of  food  material.  This 
is  in  the  form  of  cotyledons  or  fleshy  leaves.  They 
are  nearly  always  two  in  number  which  classes  most 
trees  among  the  dicotyledonous  plants.  A  few 
trees  have  monocotyledonous  seeds.  This  would 
be  an  unimportant  distinction  in  itself,  were  it  not 
that  these  facts  foretell  certain  styles  of  structure 
and  growth. 

Tree-seeds  which  have  left  their  parent  tree  in 
the  fall,  remain  quiescent  all  winter,  usually  a  few 
inches  below  the  surface  of  the  ground.  Under  the 
quickening  influence  of  spring  latent  life  stirs 
within  them.  Their  entire  bodies  are  covered  with 
tight  little  water-proof  jackets.  Their  only  com- 
munication with  the  outside  world  is  through  a 
little  window  or  door  called  the  micropyle,  which 
means  in  Greek  "small  mouth."  Therefore,  their 
first  action  is  to  drink  in  large  quantities  of  water 
through  this  micropyle.  This  makes  them  swell 
prodigiously  and  eventually  burst  their  enclosing 
walls.  In  the  meantime,  the  radicle,  feeding  on  the 
starch  stored  in  the  cotyledons,  has  passed  out 
through  the  micropyle  and  started  on  a  downward 
search  for  nourishment.  With  the  seed-walls  burst, 
the  little  plumule,  often  with  a  tiny  leaf  already 
developing,  pushes  its  way  to  the  surface.  Some- 


TREE  PHYSIOLOGY  41 

times  it  carries  the  shrinking  cotyledons  with  it, 
where  under  the  influence  of  air  and  light  they  turn 
green  and  perform  the  functions  of  leaves  until 
more  permanent  ones  can  be  formed. 

The  seedling  is  now  well  started.  Growth  goes 
on  rapidly.  Branches  are  thrown  off  and  buds 
and  leaves  formed.  If  we  cut  the  stem  of  a  young 
seedling  across,  it  seems  to  be  composed  of  a  loosely 
packed  pith  and  an  epidermis.  Examined  more 
closely,  the  outer  portion  of  the  pith  is  seen  to  be 
more  solid  in  texture.  It  is  the  beginning  of  the 
future  wood.  Between  the  outer  and  inner  piths 
lies  a  bundle  of  longitudinal  strands,  the  future 
cambium  layer. 

By  the  end  of  the  first  year  the  young  tree  has 
taken  on  its  permanent  form  on  a  small  scale.  In 
structure  it  is  composed  of  the  main  stem,  branches, 
shoots,  leaves  and  buds.  The  points  of  growth 
are  at  the  tips  of  each  branch  or  shoot.  The  tree 
also  grows  in  girth  throughout  its  body  exogenically 
or  by  development  outward.  The  branches  group 
themselves  in  definite  arrangements.  The  points 
where  leaves  appear  are  called  nodes.  The  stem- 
spaces  between  the  nodes  are  internodes.  Some  of 
the  branches  are  observed  to  be  rudimentary  and 
destined  never  to  develop.  This  is  due  to  the  ever- 
present  tendency  of  the  sap  to  mount  as  high  as 


42     THE  HUMAN  SIDE  OF  TREES 

it  can.  This  habit  often  causes  the  lower  branches 
to  be  neglected,  especially  when  the  tree  has  become 
very  tall. 

The  buds  are  most  interesting.  Each  bud  has 
the  remarkable  power  of  being  able  to  reproduce 
everything  which  has  so  far  been  grown  on  the 
tree:  stem,  branches,  foliage  and  fruit.  It  differs 
only  from  the  seed  in  remaining  attached  to  the  tree 
and  finding  it  necessary  to  stay  there  to  perform 
its  work. 

Each  summer  the  tree  forms  the  buds  destined 
to  "germinate"  the  following  spring.  Each  leaf  of 
that  year  has  an  incipient  bud  in  charge.  If  any- 
thing happens  to  a  leaf  its  nearby  bud  usually  dies. 
During  the  winter  even  the  thick  coats  of  the  buds 
cannot  keep  out  all  the  cold,  particularly  as  trees 
differ  from  animals  in  having  no  internal  heat.  As 
a  matter  of  protection  the  water  in  the  cells  com- 
posing the  buds  passes  by  osmosis  into  the  inter- 
cellular spaces.  Here  it  may  freeze  to  its  heart's 
content  without  bursting  any  cell  walls.  Fruit 
crops  are  destroyed  by  early  frosts  because  the 
water  is  caught  in  the  cells  instead  of  out  of  them. 
Freezing,  it  bursts  innumerable  delicate  membranes 
and  disintegration  results. 

The  ascending  sap  of  spring  brings  nourishment 
to  the  buds.  They  burst  through  their  scales  and 


TREE  PHYSIOLOGY  43 

unfold  their  miniature  shoots.  Sometimes  the 
scales  grow  along  with  the  buds  to  protect  them  for 
a  while.  Eventually  they  always  fall. 

A  cross-section  of  the  trunk  of  a  mature  tree 
is  very  simple  in  arrangement.  At  the  very  centre 
is  a  very  small  amount  of  pith  which  radiates  out 
in  all  directions  as  the  medullary  rays.  These  pith- 
rays  are  serviceable  in  the  movement  of  sap,  both 
longitudinally  and  laterally.  Surrounding  the  cen- 
tral pith  are  concentric  rays  of  heartwood,  corre- 
sponding in  number  to  the  tree's  age  and  compos- 
ing the  larger  part  of  its  mass.  Life  is  extinct  in 
its  cells.  For  a  tree  to  be  "rotten  at  the  core"  is 
really  not  a  vital  thing.  The  central  wood  is  dead 
already.  Only  when  the  decay  approaches  the  liv- 
ing cells  near  the  circumference  does  it  become 
alarming. 

Surrounding  the  heartwood  is  a  region  of  sap- 
wood,  comparatively  new  cells  which  are  gradually 
solidifying  into  heartwood.  Next  is  the  active  cam- 
bium layer,  which  we  have  already  discussed  at 
length.  Surrounding  everything  is  the  bark. 

This  stem  formation  extends  throughout  the  tree 
except  in  the  smallest  twigs  where  the  area  of  pith 
is  greatly  increased. 

In  one  aspect,  a  tree  is  a  great  community  of 
little  plants.  Instead  of  the  polypi  of  the  coral, 


44     THE  HUMAN  SIDE  OF  TREES 

the  tree  has  thousands  of  leaves  and  flowers.  These 
little  parts  of  the  whole  are  continually  running 
through  a  cycle  of  infancy,  development,  maturity 
and  death.  Over  all  and  embracing  all  is  the  great 
life  cycle  of  the  entire  colony.  The  tree  must  con- 
tinue to  grow  to  live.  As  soon  as  it  stops,  decay 
and  ultimate  dissolution  set  in. 


IV 

TREES  THAT  ARE  FASHIONABLE 

Through  the  grey  and  sombre  wood 
Against  the  dusk  of  fir  and  pine, 

Last  of  their  floral  sisterhood 

The  hazel's  yellow  blossoms  shine. 

— WHITTIKR. 

OF  all  well-dressed  beings,  the  trees  are  the 
nearest  approach  to  fashion-plates.  They 
are  always  attired  from  crown  to  roots  in  perfect 
taste.  Though  young  and  scraggly  or  old  and 
wind-racked,  they  still  display  a  certain  harmony 
and  beauty  of  costume  not  seen  in  every  part  of 
the  plant  world.  Tree-flowers  are  of  many  shapes 
and  colours,  yet  they  invariably  fit  in  perfectly  with 
the  colour  scheme  of  the  bark  and  leaves.  It  is 
as  if  the  trees  had  a  private  key  to  the  bandbox  of 
nature,  and  used  the  fairies  as  dress  maids. 

Most  men  and  all  women  make  four  general 
changes  of  costume  each  year.  So  do  the  trees.  In 
fact,  there  is  little  doubt  but  what  the  trees  were 
the  innovators,  as  they  have  lived  ages  longer  on 

45 


46     THE  HUMAN  SIDE  OF  TREES 

this  planet.  Not  only  do  we  imitate  the  trees  in 
ordering  approximately  four  suits  a  year,  but  we 
fully  copy  the  tree  colours  and  patterns  when  we 
make  them  up.  Trees  also  have  a  tremendous  in- 
fluence over  all  human  conceptions  relating  to  the 
seasons. 

Trees  are  somewhat  vain  of  their  costumes — in 
some  cases,  may  actually  be  said  to  pose  for  their 
pictures.  It  is  not  uncommon  to  find  in  certain 
districts  of  the  West  specimens  of  moss  agate,  bear- 
ing on  its  face  the  perfect  figure  of  a  tree.  So  de- 
tailed are  some  of  these  tree  pictures  that  the  exact 
species  may  sometimes  be  determined.  Who  shall 
say  the  tree  did  not  stand  for  its  portrait?  Should 
certain  trees  like  the  pinion  become  extinct,  their 
likenesses  will  be  forever  retained  in  the  moss 


The  life  of  a  tree  is  a  never-ending  cycle,  though 
it  is  customary  to  think  of  spring  as  bringing  a  new 
birth  and  a  new  awakening  to  all  plant  kind.  The 
trees  are  qniescent  in  winter  but  hardly  asleep  and 
by  no  means  dead.  They  are  likely  planning  their 
spring  dressmaking;  for,  like  fashionable  women, 
they  each  must  appear  in  the  latest  models  at  the 
desired  time.  Our  Easter  preparations  for  new 
hats  are  nothing  compared  to  the  preparations 
among  the  trees!  Here  every  one  turns  milliner 


FASHIONABLE  TREES  47 

and  dressmaker  and  even  the  male  trees  are  inter- 
ested. Powders,  frills,  flowers,  perfumes,  rich  col- 
ours— all  these  are  utilised  afresh  each  season. 

Many  of  the  tree-buds  which  have  been  formed 
the  summer  before  have  been  wrapped  in  oilskins 
all  winter.  Their  sticky,  varnished  surfaces  have 
kept  out  every  vestige  of  moisture  and  cold  which 
has  come  their  way.  Others  have  achieved  their 
purpose  with  beautiful  fur  coats  of  delicate  look 
and  texture.  Then  there  are  those  which  appear 
in  the  thick,  hard  garb  of  workmen.  Not  a  few 
wear  overcoats  of  the  close-fitting  military  type. 
The  buds  of  the  forsythe,  an  exceptionally  early 
spring  shrub,  always  have  clothes  of  ample  dimen- 
sions in  order  to  facilitate  their  quick  enlargement 
during  the  first  January  thaw. 

Most  of  the  buds  begin  to  swell  in  March.  The 
resulting  addition  to  the  landscape  of  dull  crim- 
son, purple,  olive,  and  silver  produces  a  beautiful 
effect.  The  bursting  buds  of  the  cultivated  mag- 
nolia give  the  impression  of  blood,  while  the  tiny 
brown  buds  of  the  elm  look  like  sleeping  insects. 
The  tree-masses  are  still  dark  brown  and  grey,  but 
there  are  subdued  shades  of  brighter  aspect  running 
through  them. 

When  the  trees  finally  decide  to  throw  off  their 
winter  clothing,  they  do  it  with  an  abandon  and 


48     THE  HUMAN  SIDE  OF  TREES 

eclat  quite  akin  to  the  way  in  which  most  women 
don  their  spring  millinery;  yet  nature  keeps  no  old 
feathers  or  ribbons  to  trim  her  new  coats  and  hats. 
It  is  as  if  the  world  had  gone  colour  mad  over- 
night. The  wind  has  awakened  all  the  trees  and  the 
bursting  buds  open  and  send  forth  myriads  of  deli- 
cate and  exquisite  flowers.  The  apple,  the  cherry, 
the  peach,  the  plum,  in  fact  nearly  all  the  fruit  trees, 
are  quite  lavish  in  their  displays.  On  the  other 
hand,  many  of  our  shade  and  forest  trees,  such 
as  the  oak  and  the  maple,  are  so  modest  in  their  ef- 
forts that  we  hardly  realise  that  they  are  flowering. 
Their  blossoms  are  well-formed  and  daintily  col- 
oured, but  they  are  so  small  and  inconspicuous  that 
one  rarely  sees  them.  Not  a  few  trees,  like  the  pop- 
lar, arrange  their  flowers  on  long,  pendulous  chains 
which  we  call  catkins.  Sometimes  the  male  or 
staminate  flowers  are  separate  from  the  female  or 
pistil-bearing  flowers  and  again  they  are  merged 
in  one. 

Tree-flowers  are  as  varied  in  their  form  and  col- 
ouring as  the  boughs  which  wear  them.  Each  fam- 
ily of  trees  has  a  fashion  all  its  own;  just  as  each 
nation  of  people  has  its  own  peculiar  style  of  dress. 
The  tulip-tree  and  the  magnolia  are  especially 
showy  and  yet  they  have  a  certain  air  of  military 
precision.  The  sassafras  and  ash  are  cold,  firm, 


FASHIONABLE  TREES  49 

and  dignified ;  the  sycamore  is  proud  and  haughty, 
with  an  air  of  a  grandee  about  it ;  while  the  weeping 
willow  seems  to  be  a  tree  of  deep  emotions,  whose 
delicate  branches  vibrate  to  every  breeze.  The 
silver  poplar  bears  beautiful  little  cup-shaped 
flowers. 

The  silver  fir  is  a  very  artistic  dresser.  Its  close- 
fitting  costume  of  refreshing  green,  ornamented 
with  beautiful  brown  cone-buttons,  is  very  appro- 
priate for  the  high  mountain  altitudes  at  which  it 
lives. 

Some  of  the  tree-flowers  discard  or  throw  to  the 
ground  the  warm  bud-overcoats  which  have  shel- 
tered them  during  the  winter.  More  thoughtful 
ones  merely  turn  them  back  as  a  man  does  a  collar 
and  thus  create  for  themselves  a  pair  of  stipules. 
Others,  like  the  fast  disappearing  catalpa,  are  so 
extremely  artistic  that  they  carpet  the  nearby 
ground  with  their  exquisite  little  flowers  of  yellow 
and  purple  during  the  flowering  season.  Nothing 
is  more  beautiful  than  earth  strewn  with  catalpa 
blossoms. 

It  seems  a  strange  thing  that  most  of  our  trees 
should  blossom  before  they  come  out  in  leaf,  yet 
like  many  of  the  apparent  anomalies  of  nature, 
this  fact  has  its  foundation  in  necessity  and  con- 
venience. A  great  many  trees  depend  upon  the 


50     THE  HUMAN  SIDE  OF  TREES 

wind  to  aid  them  in  their  love-making.  It  is  this 
agency  which  carries  the  pollen  from  tree  to  tree 
and  so  makes  reproduction  possible.  The  courtship 
of  trees  is  brief  and  beautiful.  With  the  trees  in 
full  leaf,  the  flight  of  the  pollen  would  be  almost 
entirely  arrested  and  the  species  would  be  doomed 
to  premature  extinction.  With  most  trees  the  func- 
tion of  the  flowers  is  over  just  as  the  leaves  are 
getting  into  a  good  stride;  nature  does  only  one 
thing  at  a  time.  You  may  have  wondered  in  early 
spring  to  see  the  ground  under  certain  trees  strewn 
with  catkins  and  even  vaguely  regretted  the  storm 
which  has  cast  them  there.  The  fact  is  that  they 
have  already  done  their  part,  and  are  no  longer 
needed. 

It  should  not  be  imagined,  however,  that  the 
flowering  of  the  trees  is  confined  to  the  months  of 
March  and  April  altogether.  Mother  Nature,  as 
if  to  distribute  her  flowers  evenly  throughout  the 
seasons,  has  caused  some  of  the  trees  to  postpone 
their  blossoming  until  late  in  the  spring,  summer, 
and  even  fall.  The  witch-hazel  blossoms  very  late 
in  the  fall,  long  after  the  purple  asters  and  golden- 
rods  of  autumn  have  appeared.  Though  the  elms 
and  dogwoods  blossom  quite  early,  the  linden  waits 
until  late. 

When  great  masses  of  bright  green  leaves  fill 


SILVER  FIR.    Abies  Fmscri 
This  tree  ornaments  itself  with  beautiful  brown  cone-buttons. 


FASHIONABLE  TREES  51 

the  landscape,  spring  may  be  said  to  have  come  to 
stay  and  the  trees  exhibit  their  seasonal  wardrobe 
complete.  The  green  specks  of  brightness  which 
flecked  the  dark  brown  branches  of  the  elm  have 
become  gorgeous  curtains  of  full-grown  leaves. 
The  horse-chestnut  shows  lusty  green  leaf  shoots 
and  the  larch  has  clothed  itself  from  those  first  mod- 
est effulgences  which  looked  like  moss.  Even  the 
conifers  have  thrown  out  fresh  yellow-green  leaves 
on  the  tips  of  their  blue-green  branches.  The  pink 
boughs  of  the  redbud  have  put  on  green,  and  the 
dogwood  has  dressed  itself  in  rough  grey  leaves. 
All  these  are  really  summer  outfits,  as  the  trees 
wear  them  right  up  until  the  end  of  September. 
The  colour  darkens  in  tone,  but  it  still  remains  a  re- 
freshing green,  a  god-send  to  heat-stricken  man. 

The  mountain  ash, 

Decked  with  autumnal  berries  that  outshine 
Spring's  richest  blossoms,  yields  a  splendid  show 
Amid  the  leafy  woods. 

— WORDSWORTH. 

So  the  fall  of  the  year  approaches — the  time 
when  the  trees  become  futuristic  in  thought,  and 
nature,  mixing  her  pigments  with  a  master  hand, 
creates  colour  schemes  which  no  human  brush  can 
simulate.  Matter-of-fact  chemists  tell  us  that  the 
wizardry  of  autumn  is  due  to  the  breaking  up  of 


52     THE  HUMAN  SIDE  OF  TREES 

leaf -chlorophyll  (green  colouring  matter)  into  xan- 
thophyll  and  erythrophyll,  but  that  is  a  bald  and 
prosaic  way  of  putting  it.  We  prefer  to  think 
that  the  trees  are  tired  of  the  heat  and  the  indolence 
of  summer  and  wishing  to  celebrate  the  advent  of 
more  tolerable  weather,  put  on  their  gayest  and 
gaudiest  costumes.  Gaudiest?  Well,  that  is  hardly 
the  word.  While  an  individual  leaf  often  looks 
very  garish  when  viewed  by  itself,  it  becomes  emi- 
nently proper  and  sedate  when  put  back  in  the 
general  scheme  from  which  it  was  taken.  A  group 
of  the  most  brilliant  autumn  trees  imaginable  looks 
very  quiet  and  respectable  as  seen  from  a  little  dis- 
tance. Despite  all  the  reds  and  yellows,  the  pre- 
vailing autumn  note  is  brown.  Man  has  recognised 
this  in  his  adoption  of  brown  as  the  colour-symbol 
of  fall,  just  as  green  forever  typifies  the  spring. 

The  individual  colours  are  there,  if  you  pick  them 
out.  Who  can  adequately  reproduce  on  canvas 
the  crimson  and  bronze  of  the  oak,  the  champagne 
of  the  ash,  the  amber  of  the  chestnut,  the  scarlet 
of  the  swamp-maple  or  the  bright  chrome  of  the 
beech?  These  shades  are  all  laid  on  the  dark  green 
background  of  those  trees  which  are  slow  to  yield 
to  frosty  influences,  as  well  as  the  pines,  spruces 
and  hemlocks  which  wear  blue-green  coats  all  the 
year.  It  is  interesting  to  note  that  in  the  matter 


FASHIONABLE  TREES  53 

of  autumn  colouring,  Mother  Nature  allows  her 
tree  charges  more  or  less  of  a  free  hand.  Acorns 
are  the  same  the  country  over,  but  the  oaks  from 
which  they  fall  run  through  a  series  of  different 
colour  shades.  Individual  trees  develop  colour  idio- 
syncrasies. Certain  branches  on  particular  trees 
have  been  known  to  elect  some  striking  or  unusual 
shade  of  red  or  yellow  year  after  year.  It  has  been 
suggested  that  some  clever  grafting  experiments 
might  produce  autumn  tree-clothes  which  were 
truly  startling. 

It  is  customary  to  think  that  with  the  fall  of  the 
leaves,  beauty  and  charm  depart  from  northern 
landscapes.  Only  people  with  a  very  primitive  idea 
of  beauty  can  look  at  it  that  way.  Just  as  the 
undraped  human  figure  reveals  grace  of  form  and 
line  more  divine  than  any  amount  of  adornment 
could  give,  so  the  trees  reach  their  highest  develop- 
ment of  beauty  when  divested  of  their  leaves.  There 
is  a  delicacy,  an  airy  grandeur  to  a  winter  landscape 
which  far  transcends  the  luxuriance  of  summer. 
The  nude  trees  remind  one  of  exquisite  sculpture; 
even  the  muscles  and  bones  can  be  studied  and  ap- 
preciated. The  rich  leafage  and  strong  colouring 
of  the  earlier  season  seem  almost  voluptuous  when 
compared  to  the  esthetic  classicism  of  the  snowy 
months.  The  winter  woods  depend  for  their  beauty 


54     THE  HUMAN  SIDE  OF  TREES 

on  the  strong,  underlying  elements  of  structure  and 
line,  with  a  resulting  charm  of  a  purer  and  higher 
kind.  Of  course,  the  evergreens — such  as  the  cedar, 
fir,  and  pine — and  a  few  trees  which  decorate  them- 
selves with  mistletoe  are  charming  exceptions. 

This  is  not  a  mere  matter  of  artistic  insight.  Any 
one  can  see  the  beauty  if  he  but  take  the  trouble 
to  look.  There  is  a  wonderful  richness  of  tone  in 
the  browns  and  greys  which  make  up  the  masses 
of  the  distant  woods,  and  here  and  there  a  birch 
gleams  white,  or  the  evergreens  add  marvellous 
touches  of  green  which  are  more  beautiful  than 
anything  spring  can  offer.  Faint  mists  of  colour 
in  combinations  of  violet,  rose  and  soft  grey  hover 
over  the  thickets.  A  thousand  branches  lift  a  deli- 
cate tracery  against  a  neutral  sky.  When  the  snow 
covers  the  hills  and  valleys  with  a  carpet  of  chaste 
white,  nature  has  made  her  supreme  effort  to  por- 
tray the  ideally  beautiful. 

You  cannot  get  to  know  the  individual  trees 
aright  until  you  study  them  in  winter.  The  bare 
limbs  bring  out  all  their  traits  and  foibles.  The  es- 
sential details  of  shape  and  framework  are  dis- 
played without  reserve.  The  oak  shows  boughs  of 
sturdy  strength.  The  elm  runs  up  into  half-arches 
of  tapering  filaments.  The  beech  has  a  smooth, 
clean-springing  bole  of  vast  proportions  and  what 


FASHIONABLE  TREES  55 

Thoreau  calls  a  "handsome  instep"  where  its  great 
roots  grip  the  soil. 

The  structural  reason  for  the  foliage-masses  of 
the  different  trees  is  quite  apparent  when  one  has 
seen  the  skeleton  of  each.  The  few  large  branches 
of  the  oak  naturally  make  for  grouped  masses  of 
leaves  with  contrasting  shadows  and  deep,  cavern- 
ous openings.  The  numerous  slender  branches  and 
side-shoots  of  the  maple  account  for  the  smooth, 
sunny  surface  of  the  leaf-clothed  tree.  The  frame- 
work of  a  tree  determines  whether  its  ultimate  ex- 
pression shall  be  one  of  gloom,  dignity,  or  grace. 

The  bark  is  both  the  skin  and  the  winter  overcoat 
of  trees.  Each  tree  chooses  a  material  with  a  pat- 
tern and  texture  suited  to  its  own  particular  style  of 
beauty.  The  beech  is  a  hardy  creature  who  wears 
an  outer  covering  which  is  wonderfully  smooth  and 
fine,  but  which  is  so  thin  that  we  wonder  how  he 
keeps  from  freezing  to  death.  The  walnut  and 
the  pecan  wear  close-fitting  coats  of  a  considerably 
heavier  weight.  The  sycamore  is  content  to  appear 
in  a  winter  habit  so  rough  as  to  seem  ragged.  The 
birch  is  decidedly  fashionable  and  sports  clothes  of 
startling  cut  and  colouring.  She  often  wears  over- 
laying parchment  suits  of  white,  amber-yellow  and 
garnet-red.  The  red  oak  wears  a  beautiful  pink 


56     THE  HUMAN  SIDE  OF  TREES 

union-suit.  All  tree-clothes  are  both  air  and  water 
proof. 

When  it  comes  to  frills  and  foibles  of  dress,  even 
the  best  gowned  ladies  must  stand  aside.  All  their 
fads  and  fancies  have  a  counterpart  if  not  a  proto^ 
type  in  treeland.  The  idea  for  many  a  hat  01 
cloth-pattern  is  originated  by  some  smartly  dressed 
tree.  The  southern  species,  especially,  love  to  adorn 
themselves.  Some,  presumably  males,  swing  aerial 
branch  walking  canes  from  half -bent  arms.  Others, 
more  than  likely  females,  flutter  vine  festoons  in 
the  wind  in  lieu  of  ribbons.  The  trees  along  Flor- 
ida's St.  Johns  River  deck  themselves  with  Span- 
ish moss  as  with  a  bride's  veil.  Certain  tropical 
varieties  wear  great  orchids  in  their  bosoms,  or 
make  their  own  perfume.  In  the  tropics,  not  a  few 
wear  the  stiffest  form  of  corsets.  They  are  some- 
times so  laced  up  with  vines  as  to  be  half  strangled. 

Temperamental  trees  often  harbour  frogs, 
lizards,  crickets,  and  katydids  for  musicians.  No 
doubt  the  strange  fad  of  some  years  ago  which 
tempted  society  women  to  wear  live  lizards  on  their 
neck-chains  was  started  by  some  tree  belle.  The 
grand-daddy  greybeard  tree  wears  an  immense 
beard  in  the  form  of  long  grey  threads  which  are 
in  reality  its  blossoms;  these  threads  look  for  all 
the  world  like  the  grizzled  whiskers  of  some  aged 


IX  SPRINGTIME  THE  HOESECHESTNUT  IS  THE  MOST  GAILY  ATTIRED  OF  TREES 


FASHIONABLE  TREES  57 

man.  The  buttonwood  tree  prepares  its  seeds  in 
the  form  of  buttons,  while  its  leaves  are  not  unlike 
coat  tails  of  sheer  and  fine  material.  The  pines 
produce  leaves  which  are  tassels,  while  the  tulip 
tree  has  its  seeds  in  the  form  of  exquisite  brooches. 
The  palm  grows  large  and  graceful  hands  with 
which  to  fan  itself.  The  flowers  of  the  horse-chest- 
nut look  like  aged  inebriates,  while  its  five-pointed 
leaves  stand  out  like  grasping  hands.  The  white 
blossoms  of  the  black  haw  gleam  through  the  dusk 
like  white  teeth  or  tiny  eyeballs.  The  mangrove 
tree  defies  all  etiquette  by  lifting  her  skirts  high 
above  her  knees  as  she  wades  in  the  water.  Per- 
haps it  was  from  the  mangrove  that  women  first 
learned  of  rainy-day  skirts! 

The  trees  follow  the  fashions  of  their  own  par- 
ticular kind  or  set  but  are  quite  disdainful  of  those 
beyond  the  pale.  Most  of  them  consider  it  stylish 
to  be  small  around  the  waist,  but  the  swamp  cypress 
deliberately  sticks  to  the  old  fashion  of  hoop-skirts 
and  bustles.  The  weeping  willow  strives  for  grace 
and  daintiness,  waving  her  branches  to  and  fro  in 
every  wind.  The  shell-bark  hickory  prefers  to 
stand  up  stiff  and  unyielding  and  hold  his  arms 
at  abrupt  and  unshapely  angles.  The  Norway 
maple  is  of  the  massive,  solid  type.  The  Lombardy 


58     THE  HUMAN  SIDE  OF  TREES 

poplar  stabs  the  sky-line  like  a  slender  exclamation- 
point. 

In  the  use  of  colour  there  are  of  course  marked 
differences.  The  oaks  and  maples  have  a  corner 
on  the  vivid  autumn  effects,  while  such  trees  as  the 
birches,  ashes,  and  poplars  go  in  for  softer  tones. 
Even  the  maples  are  by  no  means  agreed  as  to  the 
correct  shade  for  October  wear.  The  Norway 
maple  seems  to  prefer  oranges  and  gold,  while  the 
sugar  maple  usually  picks  out  different  blendings 
of  red  and  crimson.  These  colour  schemes  are 
worked  in  material  of  different  textures.  Viewed 
from  a  little  distance,  some  trees  have  a  foliage- 
dress  which  looks  coarse  and  dense  with  deep  and 
sombre  shadows.  Many  more  wear  clothes  which 
have  a  light  and  elegant  look. 

The  fashions  and  caprices  of  trees  have  wielded  a 
larger  influence  over  man's  history,  since  his  orig- 
inal short  stay  in  the  Garden  of  Eden,  than  he  is 
consciously  aware  of.  Since  Mother  Eve  first 
draped  herself  in  fig  leaves,  mankind  has  imitated 
the  tree  fashions.  Among  other  things,  the  trees 
were  the  first  to  originate  the  relation  of  colour  to 
the  seasons.  Man  gets  his  ideas  of  colour-sym- 
bolism from  them. 


TREES  WITH  A  COLLEGE  EDUCATION 

The  poplar  that  with  silver  lines  his  leaf. 

— COWPER. 

TO-DAY  no  man  is  so  poor  but  what  he  can 
go  to  college.  In  the  great  school  of  nature 
every  tree  receives  an  education  which  at  least  car- 
ries it  through  the  secondary  grade.  To  man  is 
left  the  privilege  of  adding  to,  or  of  aiding  in,  the 
university  training. 

If  experience  is  the  greatest  teacher,  then  the 
trees  are  well  drilled.  The  primal  forces  of  the  uni- 
verse are  the  stern  masters  before  which  they  sit. 
Not  a  day  goes  by  but  they  are  forced  to  learn  a 
new  and  difficult  lesson  whether  they  care  to  or 
not.  Long  centuries  ago  the  pine  discovered  that 
it  was  perfect  folly  for  it  to  flaunt  wide  flat  leaves 
in  the  death-dealing  blasts  of  winter.  To  save  it- 
self from  being  blown  over  by  the  first  hurricane 
it  was  forced  to  reduce  its  leaves  to  long  green 
needles  which  offered  little  resistance  to  the  air 
pressure.  The  persimmon  tree  found  that  it  could 
59 


60     THE  HUMAN  SIDE  OF  TREES 
» 

best  get  along  by  hiding  largely  underground.  The 
hazel  and  other  trees  considered  it  advantageous  to 
adopt  the  habits  of  bushes.  The  great  red  oaks  of 
California  found  that  they  could  only  afford  to 
grow  in  large  groups  and  thus  protect  their  huge 
bodies  from  the  storms.  The  pine  of  the  north 
became  the  palm  of  the  south.  So  it  goes.  Every 
species  of  tree  in  existence  is  the  direct  outcome  of 
nature's  class  room  work.  And  the  term  never 
comes  to  an  end. 

We  are  too  apt  to  look  upon  evolution  as  a  thing 
of  the  past — the  process  by  which  things  arrived  at 
their  present  status.  The  laws  of  natural  develop- 
ment are  just  as  much  in  force  to-day  as  they  ever 
were,  only  we  cannot  expect  to  see  in  a  single  life- 
time or  several  of  them,  results  commensurate  with 
the  changes  wrought  by  centuries  of  patient  effort. 

Every  tree,  like  every  worthy  man,  strives  to 
fulfil  the  highest  and  noblest  destiny  which  the 
limitations  placed  upon  it  will  permit.  A  tiny 
seedling  pushing  its  way  up  into  the  dark,  dank 
atmosphere  of  some  overcrowded  forest  is  doomed 
to  death  before  it  is  scarcely  born.  A  pine  grow- 
ing on  some  rough,  exposed  hillside  can  never  at- 
tain the  symmetry  and  luxuriance  of  form  possible 
for  its  fortunate  brother  of  the  sheltered  forest  re- 
serve. But  each  tree  can  strive  to  do  its  best,  and 


TREES  WITH  AN  EDUCATION     61 

they  all  do.    Would  that  men  were  so  courageous ! 

Some  trees,  like  many  men,  never  get  beyond  the 
necessity  of  struggling  for  an  existence.  Competi- 
tion is  so  keen  and  the  distribution  of  natural  as 
well  as  human  wealth  often  so  faulty  that  whole 
groups  of  trees  are  forced  to  live  in  the  slums  of 
plantdom.  Hunger,  cold,  and  the  buffets  of  a  re- 
morseless world  keep  the  pinch  of  poverty  con- 
stantly upon  them.  They  never  get  beyond  the 
bare  essentials  of  existence  and  must  leave  the  de- 
velopment of  the  beautiful  and  esthetic — in  other 
words,  the  cultivation  of  the  fine  arts — to  more 
fortunate  tree-citizens. 

On  the  other  hand,  propitious  circumstances  of 
the  past  have  brought  about  a  race  of  tree  aristo- 
crats, plant  beings  of  strong  physique  and  heredity, 
who  are  free  to  develop  all  those  elements  of  beauty 
and  nobility  toward  which  all  trees  strive.  The 
stately  elm,  the  sturdy  oak,  the  spreading  chestnut 
— these  are  some  of  the  first  families,  though  pros- 
perous individuals  of  other  stocks  often  attain  great 
prominence.  It  is  these  trees  which  may  be  said 
to  attend  the  College  of  Nature,  where  they  learn 
all  those  gentle  graces  and  accomplishments  which 
make  up  the  best  in  plant  civilisation. 

Many  trees  go  higher  and  take  a  post-graduate 
course  of  marvellous  efficiency.  Strange  to  say, 


62     THE  HUMAN  SIDE  OF  TREES 

it  is  at  a  university  conducted  by  man.  He  trains 
them  largely  for  the  bountiful  tuition  they  pay, 
though  sometimes  he  does  it  out  of  pure  love  for 
their  beauty  and  companionship.  With  his  mar- 
vellous knowledge  of  the  laws  which  govern  tree 
life  and  his  ingenious  faculty  of  adopting  means  to 
ends,  man  often  makes  wonderful  progress  with 
his  passive  charges.  He  heals  and  cares  for  their 
bodies  better  than  they  ever  could  themselves.  By 
his  universal  domination  of  the  plant  world,  he  se- 
cures for  them  that  freedom  and  advantage  of  en- 
vironment which  enables  them  to  bring  their  inher- 
ent abilities  to  full  fruition.  He  even  works  upon 
the  very  fundamentals  of  their  existence  and  so 
shapes  and  improves  their  life-streams  as  to  bridge 
in  a  few  years  the  gap  in  development  which  nat- 
ural evolutionary  processes  would  have  taken  ages 
to  span.  Subject,  yet  lord,  of  the  laws  of  nature 
is  man. 

Consider  the  hospital  department  of  man's  Tree 
College.  Humans  are  in  a  position  to  give  the 
trees  an  immense  amount  of  medical  help.  The 
more  the  tremendous  economic  and  esthetic  value 
of  the  trees  is  realised,  the  more  is  man,  for  his  own 
interest,  apt  to  look  after  their  physical  welfare. 
Yet  he  is  only  beginning  to  appreciate  his  duties  in 
this  field.  Too  often  one  may  see  a  large  spreading 


TREES  WITH  AN  EDUCATION     63 

tree  in  somebody's  front  yard  with  a  great  ugly 
cavity  eating  into  its  vitals.  The  owners  are  sym- 
pathetic but  passive. 

"Isn't  it  too  bad?"  they  say.  "I  suppose  we  shall 
have  to  chop  it  down  before  long." 

Sometimes  it  would  seem  that  human  life  has 
become  so  sacred  that  the  lives  of  fellow  animal  and 
vegetable  organisms  have  become  of  less  account 
by  comparison.  The  owners  of  a  sick  tree  are  quick 
enough  to  repair  a  hole  in  their  piazza,  but  are  either 
unaware  of  or  indifferent  to  the  fact  that  a  little 
cement  and  a  skilled  hand  can  close  up  the  ugly 
tree- wound  and  add  many  years  to  the  invalid's 
life. 

Old  trees  are  often  allowed  to  perish  unneces- 
sarily when  a  little  judicious  pruning  might  have 
prolonged  life  for  a  century  or  two.  Death  usu- 
ally comes  from  a  gradual  failing  of  vigour  due 
to  insufficient  nourishment  or  to  internal  decay. 
Withering  of  the  top  branches  is  the  first  sign. 
Health  can  be  restored  by  shortening  all  branches 
one-third  or  one-half,  which  insures  a  greater  and 
more  vigorous  leaf  surface. 

Trees  suffer  from  many  diseases  which  man  can 
alleviate.  The  fact  that  many  oaks,  chestnuts  and 
beeches  live  to  be  two  hundred  years  of  age,  while 
fortunate  specimens  survive  a  thousand  years,  in- 


64     THE  HUMAN  SIDE  OF  TREES 

dicates  that  their  shorter-lived  fellows  have  suc- 
cumbed to  adverse  conditions  of  some  kind.  Among 
the  things  with  which  they  contend  are  uncon- 
genial environment,  mechanical  injuries,  insect  and 
fungous  enemies,  and  physiological  troubles. 

It  takes  an  expert  in  tree  pathology  to  correct 
some  of  these  ailments,  but  others  can  be  detected 
and  done  away  with  by  the  untrained  eye  and  hand. 
Even  a  city-bred  man  knows  that  caterpillars  are 
not  exactly  a  benefit  to  the  foliage  of  a  tree.  When 
they,  or  any  other  insect  pest,  become  too  numer- 
ous, the  tree  should  be  sprayed  with  a  death-dealing 
chemical.  In  California  they  often  fumigate  whole 
fruit  orchards  with  some  such  gas  as  hydrocyanic 
(prussic)  acid.  Companies  organised  for  the  pur- 
pose will  undertake  to  rid  a  whole  group  of  trees 
of  their  insect  enemies  for  twenty  or  thirty  cents 
a  tree.  The  work  is  often  done  at  night,  and  a 
common  method  is  to  drop  a  canvas  tent  over  each 
tree,  within  which  the  deadly  fumes  are  generated. 

If  a  man  has  a  blood-poisoned  arm  the  doctors 
cut  it  off.  In  the  same  way  dead  and  decaying 
limbs  should  be  removed  from  trees.  If  a  man 
has  a  weak  or  injured  leg  he  is  given  a  crutch  on 
which  to  lean.  It  is  only  fair  to  help  the  trees  by 
providing  bolts  and  supports  for  their  weak  mem- 
bers. Moreover,  these  surgical  helps  should  be 


TREES  WITH  AN  EDUCATION     65 

given  with  some  degree  of  thought  and  care.  No 
one  would  think  of  chopping  off  a  man's  leg  and 
then  turning  him  loose  to  get  along  with  the  bleed- 
ing stump  as  best  he  could.  Yet  that  is  just  the 
way  some  people  attempt  to  doctor  trees.  A  wound 
of  this  kind  should  be  carefully  cauterised  with 
tar  but  not  with  tin  or  zinc.  In  bolting  it  is  best 
not  to  employ  iron  bands  which  encircle  the  limbs, 
stop  the  circulation  and  retard  growth.  Drive  the 
bolts  clear  through  each  limb  and  hold  with  a  nut 
on  the  opposite  side.  An  ideal  way  is  to  have  two 
bolts  held  by  a  turnbuckle  in  the  centre.  This 
allows  the  limbs  more  play  and  does  not  hold  them 
so  rigid  against  the  wind. 

In  some  respects  a  tree-cavity  is  like  a  cancer 
eating  into  the  vitals  of  its  victim.  More  accurately, 
it  is  like  a  cavity  in  a  human  tooth,  as  its  opera- 
tions are  carried  on  in  the  hard,  bone-like  interior 
wood.  In  either  case,  it  should  be  thoroughly 
cleaned  out  before  filling.  When  the  rotten  wood 
and  fungus  have  been  removed,  the  interior  should 
be  washed  with  some  antiseptic  solution  (copper 
sulphate  will  do).  It  is  wise  to  drive  nails  part 
way  into  the  inner  walls  to  help  hold  the  concrete. 
The  filling  should  be  finished  a  little  below  the  level 
of  the  outer  bark  in  order  to  allow  it  to  lap  over. 


66     THE  HUMAN  SIDE  OF  TREES 

It  pays  to  put  careful  work  of  this  nature  in  the 
hands  of  a  tree  expert. 

Nature  is  sometimes  her  own  physician,  and, 
when  her  ills  are  not  too  severe,  can  cure  herself 
without  consultation.  Her  surgery  is  bloodless, 
and,  as  far  as  we  know,  painless.  Poplars  and 
willows  sometimes  become  too  ambitious,  and,  in 
the  stimulation  of  spring,  send  forth  more  twigs 
and  branches  than  they  can  support  in  the  sluggish 
days  of  summer.  Finding  themselves  with  a  sur- 
plus of  twigs,  these  ingenuous  trees  perform  a  num- 
ber of  amputations.  By  a  special  cell  formation  of 
cork-like  growth  the  nutrition  is  gradually  cut  off 
from  the  part  to  be  eliminated.  These  abscess  cells, 
as  they  are  termed,  form  up  close  to  the  parent 
limb  or  trunk  and  completely  encircle  the  branch 
to  be  discarded.  When  the  cork  circle  is  complete 
the  twig  drops  off  by  its  own  weight. 

There  is  no  question  but  that,  as  a  class,  the  fruit 
trees  are  the  best  educated  members  of  their  race. 
Because  of  the  delicious  tuition  they  are  able  to 
pay,  man  has  made  them  his  class-room  pets.  They 
have  been  very  apt  pupils  and  in  his  skilful  hands 
have  undergone  many  marvellous  transformations. 
We  are  in  the  habit  of  thinking  that  it  must  have 
been  a  very  luscious  apple  indeed  which  caused 
Adam  and  Eve  to  sin.  Yet  all  the  findings  of 


EDUCATED  DATE  PALMS  WHICH  HAVE  ATTAINED  UNUSUAL  LUXURIANCE 


THIS  CURIOUS  TREE  SHOWS  PURPLE  BEECH  GRAFTED  ON  AMERICAN  BEECH 


TREES  WITH  AN  EDUCATION     67 

science  would  indicate  that  the  apple  of  the  Gar- 
den of  Eden  was  a  small,  unattractive  fruit  more 
tart  and  bitter  than  our  modern  crab  variety.  The 
fact  is  that  only  in  the  tropics  do  edible  fruits  grow 
spontaneously.  In  temperate  climates  the  trees' 
energies  ordinarily  are  so  taken  up  with  providing 
the  means  of  subsistence  that  the  fruit  is  of  a  very 
small  and  mean  variety.  It  is  only  when  man  takes 
the  tree  into  his  class  room  and  by  careful  nurture 
and  intelligent  guidance  of  its  evolutionary  proc- 
esses creates  ideal  conditions  do  the  fruits  as  we 
know  them  develop.  The  tart  wild  cherry  becomes 
sweet  and  luscious  and  five  times  its  original  size. 
The  bitter  wild  grape  becomes  a  beautiful  Concord 
cluster.  The  hard,  puckering  crab  apple  becomes 
the  resplendent  globes  of  deliciousness  known  as 
golden  pippins. 

The  principles  of  education  as  applied  to  fruit 
trees  are  very  simple.  By  abundance  of  water,  soil 
and  sunshine  each  individual  is  given  the  best  pos- 
sible chance  to  develop  itself  and  the  best  specimens 
are  selected  for  propagation.  By  cross-breeding, 
budding  and  grafting  nature's  laws  are  hurried  to- 
ward the  goal  which  has  been  decided  in  advance. 
In  fruit  culture  it  is  always  an  object  to  diminish 
the  foliage  and  the  size  of  the  seeds  in  order  that 
greater  strength  may  go  into  the  growth  of  the 


68     THE  HUMAN  SIDE  OF  TREES 

fruit  pulp  or  flesh.  The  older  and  more  feeble  a 
tree  gets,  the  more  its  fruit  is  likely  to  return  to 
the  wild  state.  Naturally,  the  tree-teachers  have 
a  great  variety  of  ways  of  applying  the  principles 
of  fruit  culture.  One  may  cross-breed  by  dusting 
the  pollen  of  one  tree  upon  the  flowers  of  another. 
Some  authorities  maintain  that  peaches  only  reach 
their  best  development  when  grafted  on  plum 
branches.  A  third  will  stake  his  reputation  on  cut- 
tings or  the  setting  out  of  twigs.  Whatever  the 
method,  it  should  be  pursued  in  love  and  patience. 

It  is  said  that  apples,  pears,  plums,  cherries  and 
quinces  stand  grafting  unusually  well.  A  common 
method  is  to  insert  two  small  scions  or  twigs  in  cor- 
responding splits  in  the  stump  of  a  small  branch 
on  the  tree  selected  to  become  the  new  foster- 
parent.  The  wound  is  carefully  sealed  with  wax. 
If  both  scions  grow  it  is  better  to  divert  all  nourish- 
ment to  one  by  cutting  off  the  other.  Budding  is 
carried  on  in  the  same  way,  except  that  buds  in- 
stead of  twigs  are  used.  A  layer  is  a  branch  buried 
in  the  ground  but  still  attached  to  its  tree.  From 
it  new  shoots  take  root. 

It  is  recognised  that  all  teaching  requires  the 
use  of  the  intuitional  and  instinctively  selective  fac- 
tors in  a  remarkable  degree.  This  is  especially  true 
of  tree-teaching.  Why  is  it  that  Luther  Burbank 


TREES  WITH  AN  EDUCATION     69 

has  become  such  a  wizard  with  all  growing  things? 
It  is  because  he  has  a  wonderful  psychic  sympathy 
which  enables  him  to  interpret  their  needs  and  de- 
sires and  so  train  and  direct  their  activities  that 
they  are  able  to  accomplish  in  a  few  years  what 
would  have  consumed  a  thousand  years  of  un- 
tutored striving.  Out  of  a  hundred  apple  trees, 
Burbank  selects  but  one  to  carry  on  the  destinies  of 
the  race.  An  acre  of  berry  bushes  is  burned  to 
give  way  to  the  offspring  of  one  of  their  number. 
Burbank  is  the  greatest  plant  educator  of  the  age. 

While  some  of  his  more  extensive  operations 
have  been  in  other  fields,  the  California  naturalist 
has  accomplished  some  marvellous  things  in  tree 
education.  A  number  of  years  ago  he  produced  the 
fastest  growing  tree  of  the  temperate  zone.  It 
was  a  walnut  and  in  thirteen  years  grew  to  a  size 
equal  to  that  of  the  average  twenty-eight  year  old 
of  its  kind.  At  the  same  time  he  reduced  the  thick- 
ness of  the  nut  shells  to  that  of  paper.  While  this 
was  convenient  for  man,  it  was  quite  agreeable  for 
the  birds  also.  They  pecked  through  so  many  of 
them  that  Burbank  promptly  bred  a  new  tree  with 
thicker  shells.  The  meat  of  these  nuts  was  white 
and  all  the  bitter  tannin  was  missing. 

It  was  Burbank  who  created  the  plumcot,  a  de- 
licious new  fruit,  a  combination  of  American  and 


70     THE  HUMAN  SIDE  OF  TREES 

Japanese  plums.  He  also  created  a  plum  which 
tastes  like  a  pear.  A  certain  group  of  chestnut 
trees  under  his  training  learned  to  bear  fruit  at 
the  age  of  eighteen  months.  He  has  improved  the 
quality  of  many  apples. 

When  man  educates  the  trees  in  great  natural 
groups  we  call  it  forestry.  It  is  in  reality  a  great 
tree  university.  In  one  sense  man  is  conserving 
the  woodlands  for  his  own  use  and  purposes,  but  at 
the  same  time  he  is  a  servant  of  the  trees  and  is 
aiding  them  to  reach  their  own  highest  develop- 
ment. He  sees  that  the  young  trees  have  adequate 
air  and  light.  He  protects  them  against  fire  and 
even  risks  his  own  life  to  save  them.  When  suf- 
ficiently progressive  and  enlightened,  he  removes 
such  trees  as  he  requires  for  his  own  use  in  a  sane 
and  scientific  way.  Instead  of  cutting  down  whole 
tracts  and  even  wantonly  burning  over  the  denuded 
areas,  he  thins  only  those  trees  which  have  reached 
marketable  age.  This  is  called  selective  cutting 
and  man  soon  finds  that  it  pays  him  in  hard  cash 
to  give  the  trees  a  square  deal.  The  rule  is  to  cut 
each  year  in  a  given  area  only  a  number  of  feet 
equal  to  the  estimated  annual  growth.  Instead  of 
using  up  the  forests  and  subjecting  the  country  to 
all  kinds  of  calamities,  this  maintains  the  wood- 
lands as  an  undiminished  capital  from  which  timber 


TREES  WITH  AN  EDUCATION     71 

adequate  to  fill  all  demands  is  drawn  off  as  in- 
terest. In  1902  the  state  forest  of  Saxony,  com- 
prising 432,300  acres,  yielded  an  interest  of  97,- 
200,000  feet,  thus  providing  an  annual  net  revenue 
of  $4.50  per  acre.  In  the  same  year  the  entire 
German  Empire  made  a  total  profit  of  $23,000,000 
on  its  state  forests. 

These  days,  in  the  human  world,  we  hear  a  great 
deal  about  the  frills  and  fancies  of  education.  There 
are  corresponding  collegiate  luxuries  in  the  tree 
kingdom.  Man  is  the  instigator  and  he  maintains 
fashionable  finishing  schools  where  he  trains  trees 
in  odd  and  sometimes  grotesque  ways  merely  to  sat- 
isfy his  own  whims  and  oddities.  Up  until  the  mid- 
dle of  the  last  century  "verdant  sculpture"  or  "topi- 
ary work"  was  a  leading  attraction  of  the  great 
private  estates  of  England  and  the  Continent.  Un- 
der the  expert  hands  of  skilled  gardeners,  trees 
were  clipped  and  trained  into  all  kinds  of  strange 
shapes.  Sometimes  they  merely  represented  geo- 
metrical designs.  More  often  they  were  cut  to 
represent  birds,  beasts,  and  even  human  forms. 
They  were  usually  more  novel  than  beautiful  and 
required  constant  and  infinite  care  to  keep  them  in 
proper  condition.  Pliny  is  mentioned  as  having 
his  Tuscan  villa  decorated  with  rows  of  verdant 
sentries.  Before  1700  the  Italian  gardens  were 


72     THE  HUMAN  SIDE  OF  TREES 

full  of  examples  of  this  art.  The  French  Louis 
XIV  had  some  grounds  of  this  kind  at  Versailles. 
There  are  a  number  of  present  day  hereditary  es- 
tates in  England  where  the  art  is  still  practised. 
The  yew  is  always  a  favourite  of  the  tree  sculptors. 

America  is  now  fast  following  in  England's  foot- 
steps in  the  matter  of  beautiful  modern  estates. 
One  has  only  to  glance  at  a  list  of  hundreds  of 
country  places  owned  by  multi-millionaires  to  see 
that  America  will  soon  lead  in  the  number  and  va- 
riety of  her  beautiful  sylvan  retreats.  These  are 
usually  characterised  by  spacious  grounds  and  ef- 
fective landscape  results,  with  garden  fronts  of 
genuine  grandeur.  Perhaps  among  the  best  ex- 
amples of  beautiful  American  landscape  work  are 
the  estates  of  Samuel  Untermeyer  at  Greystone- 
on-the-Hudson,  and  the  summer  home  of  Murry 
Guggenheim  at  Hollywood,  New  Jersey. 

What  is  called  espalier  work  is  another  tree-frill 
which  man  is  responsible  for.  The  Italians,  Swiss, 
French  and  Germans  are  especially  adept  in  this 
new  art  which  trains  fruit  trees  to  grow  into  all 
sorts  of  ornamental  shapes.  A  favourite  method 
is  to  grow  a  tree  up  against  a  wall  or  a  lattice-work 
and  to  bind  the  branches  so  that  they  climb  up  in 
long,  straight  vines.  In  this  way  one  makes  climb- 
ing plants  of  apple  trees,  bushes  of  peach  trees  and 


TREES  WITH  AN  EDUCATION     73 

woody  snakes  of  almost  any  tree.  The  owner  of 
such  a  garden  can  pick  his  breakfast  fruit  from  his 
window.  If  the  weather  is  a  little  cold,  or  insects 
especially  hungry,  he  often  places  paper  bags 
around  the  ripening  apples  or  pears. 

To  the  Japanese  is  granted  the  ability  to  make 
playthings  of  the  trees.  By  a  special  course  of 
repressive  training  they  are  able  to  dwarf  the  proc- 
esses of  nature  so  that  a  pine  springing  from  ordi- 
nary stock  grows  to  a  maturity  perfect  in  every 
way  and  dies  at  a  ripe  old  age  of  one  hundred  and 
fifty  years  without  exceeding  a  height  of  one  foot 
and  without  ever  getting  its  roots  out  of  a  flower 
pot.  It  is  positively  uncanny  to  see  one  of  their 
gnarled  but  miniature  maples  and  realise  that  this 
is  no  product  of  the  toymaker's  art  but  a  living, 
growing  thing  reduced  by  man's  genius  to  about 
one-sixtieth  of  its  normal  size.  It  is  not  uncom- 
mon to  see  a  whole  landscape  reproduced  on  a 
tray. 

Such  phenomena  are  only  developed  through  un- 
ceasing care  and  patience.  The  general  mode  of 
procedure  is  to  plant  an  ordinary  tree-seed  in  a 
small  pot.  Just  as  soon  as  it  raises  an  expectant 
shoot  above  the  ground  some  vigilant  man  by  never- 
ending  pruning  and  nipping  prevents  it  from  ex- 
panding its  branches  beyond  a  definitely  proscribed 


74     THE  HUMAN  SIDE  OF  TREES 

limit.  The  little  tree  is  lifted  out  of  its  soil  every 
few  days  to  have  the  roots  which  are  attempting  to 
burst  its  pot-prison  trimmed.  When  winter  comes 
it  is  buried  alive  under  ground  so  that  it  may  not 
freeze.  In  the  spring  its  bursting  energies  are 
trimmed  afresh,  it  is  replanted  and  carefully  nur- 
tured. This  process  goes  on  until  its  growing  ten- 
dencies are  permanently  curbed  and  it  settles  down 
to  a  life  of  Lilliputian  prosperity.  No  matter  how 
small  they  may  be,  these  little  pines  demand  their 
full  quota  of  air  and  sunshine,  as  many  Americans 
who  have  attempted  to  keep  imported  specimens 
have  learned  to  their  sorrow.  The  Japanese  per- 
form these  dwarfing  miracles  by  no  magic  art  or 
diabolical  cunning,  but  merely  through  the  exer- 
cise of  great  care  and  patience  along  lines  which 
many  years  of  experience  point  out.  That  for- 
eigners can  master  the  art  is  shown  by  the  fact 
that  at  least  one  American  naturalist  at  one  time 
had  a  conservatory  forest  of  larches,  bamboos  and 
maples  ranging  from  six  inches  to  two  feet  tall  and 
all  grown  by  himself. 

Perhaps  the  greatest  tree  college  of  the  country 
is  the  Arnold  Arboretum  of  Harvard  University. 
In  this  great  outdoor  museum  of  living  things, 
practically  every  tree  which  can  exist  in  the  Massa- 
chusetts climate  is  grown,  studied  and  card-in- 


TREES  WITH  AN  EDUCATION     75 

dexed.  They  are  arranged  in  botanical  sequence 
but  without  the  formality  of  a  nursery  and  with  a 
decided  eye  to  scenic  effects.  The  Arboretum  is 
undoubtedly  the  leading  experiment  station  of  the 
continent,  and  a  place  where  many  foreign  trees 
have  been  adapted  to  American  ways,  or  have  re- 
ceived American  educations.  Under  the  able  di- 
rection of  Professor  Charles  S.  Sargent,  the  Ar- 
boretum workers  have  scoured  the  world  for  speci- 
mens of  unusual  interest.  Professor  Sargent  by 
wide  travels  has  become  an  eminent  authority  on 
the  trees  of  North  America.  By  a  special  arrange- 
ment, the  Arboretum  has  been  incorporated  into 
the  park  system  of  Boston. 

The  career  of  each  tree-student  is  most  interest- 
ing. Like  its  Japanese  dwarf  relations,  it  is  planted 
in  a  tiny  pot,  but  only  until  it  has  passed  the  delicate 
days  of  early  infancy.  As  soon  as  it  begins  to  fill 
its  initial  quarters  it  is  removed  to  a  larger  pot  or 
sometimes  grafted  onto  some  hardier  specimen  of 
the  same  kind.  After  passing  a  winter  in  a  "cold 
pit"  it  is  set  out  in  the  kindergarten  grounds,  where 
it  is  nursed  through  a  happy  youth,  and  sheltered 
from  all  climatic  vicissitudes  until  it  reaches  sapling 
independence.  At  that  point,  it  is  transplanted 
with  many  of  its  kind  to  a  group  destined  to 
be  thinned  down  until  eight  or  ten  remain  to  per- 


76     THE  HUMAN  SIDE  OF  TREES 

petuate  the  species.  The  typical  and  most  perfect 
of  the  group  stands  a  little  apart  from  its  fellows, 
like  an  honour  student  in  a  college,  as  an  example 
to  the  others  and  also  that  it  may  have  a  chance  to 
develop  to  the  fullest  extent.  Every  specimen  is 
numbered,  labelled,  placed  on  the  map  of  the 
grounds  and  given  space  in  the  detailed  records 
quite  as  thoroughly  as  the  students  of  a  man- 
college. 

With  such  careful  training  and  with  so  many 
tree  histories  to  study,  it  is  only  natural  that  the 
Arnold  Arboretum  should  furnish  much  valuable 
data  and  be  a  most  worthy  exponent  of  tree-educa- 
tion in  general.  Each  year  registration  in  this 
tree  school  shows  a  healthy  increase  and  a  more 
varied  list  of  localities  from  which  the  students 
come. 


VI 

TREES  THAT  KEEP  A  DIARY 

"Tongues  in  trees,  sermons  in  stones, 
Books  in  running  brooks,  and  good  in  everything." 

TREES  not  only  keep  a  diary  but  give  the 
greater  part  of  their  lives  to  building  the 
house  in  which  it  is  stored.  After  all,  what  is  a 
tree  but  a  vast  record  of  achievement  where  every 
incident  and  vicissitude  of  its  life  is  set  down  with 
infinite  precision?  We  ordinarily  think  of  a  tree 
as  a  homogeneous  living  unit,  yet  science  tells  us 
that  only  the  leaves  and  a  narrow  sheath  of  the  wood 
composing  the  trunk  and  roots  are  actually  alive. 
The  rest  of  its  great  bulk  is  made  up  of  layer  upon 
layer  of  the  dead  and  solidified  bodies  of  innumer- 
able cell  generations  which  form  a  permanent  and 
most  interesting  record  of  the  tree's  history.  Not 
only  the  annual  ring  growth  but  the  bark,  the 
branches,  the  leaves  and  the  roots  all  bear  accurate 
witness  to  the  passage  of  time  and  make  up  one 
of  the  most  complete  autobiographies  possible. 

All  of  us  have  learned  to  read  some  of  the  large 
outstanding  facts  which  every  tree  bears  on  its 

77 


78     THE  HUMAN  SIDE  OF  TREES 

face.  We  see  a  sturdy  old  pine  standing  aloof  on 
a  hillock.  We  note  its  broken  and  stunted  head. 
We  see  that  the  branches  on  the  side  of  the  pre- 
vailing winter  winds  are  short  and  stubby,  while 
to  leeward  the  limbs  are  graceful  and  well-filled. 
The  massive  and  time-scarred  trunk,  like  an  aged 
man  who  has  known  many  rebuffs  in  life,  has  been 
a  little  inclined  by  many  gales.  Everything  about 
the  tree  tells  of  a  grim  and  courageous  stand  be- 
fore almost  overwhelming  odds. 

Down  in  Texas,  in  the  centre  of  one  of  the  wid- 
est parts  of  the  Trinity  River,  stands  an  immense 
sycamore  tree.  Its  bare  and  leafless  arms  raise 
brave  but  decrepit  tops  above  the  flowing  stream. 
There  are  no  less  than  seventeen  openings  in  the 
huge  trunk  through  which  bees  pass  in  and  out. 
No  doubt  it  is  honeycombed  throughout.  One  can 
see  that  this  tree  is  not  only  very  old  but  that  it 
must  have  got  its  start  before  the  river  flowed  into 
its  present  bed.  Inquiry  among  the  people  of  the 
neighbourhood  will  reveal  the  fact  that  the  exact 
date  of  this  event  makes  the  sycamore  an  advanced 
centenarian. 

The  very  shape  of  a  tree  is  a  rather  complete  in- 
dex to  the  events  of  its  life.  A  person  well  ac- 
quainted with  tree  habits  can  point  out  how  a  par- 
ticular tree  reached  yearningly  toward  the  light 


THE  HICKORY  OFTEN  BRANCHES  IN  A  WILD,  IRREGULAR  WAY 


THIS  WESTERN  JUNIPER  HAS  HAD  A  QUIET,  PLACID  LIFE 


TREES  THAT  KEEP  A  DIARY      79 

here,  overcame  some  heavy  obstacle  there,  was  in- 
jured and  even  thrown  to  the  ground  by  lightning 
at  another  point,  rose  with  dogged  determination 
and  was  finally  aided  in  its  renewed  struggle  by  the 
additional  air  and  light  afforded  through  the  death 
of  a  neighbour.  So  far-reaching  are  these  external 
indications  of  tree-history  that  it  would  seem  as 
if  we  could  sometimes  read  a  sylvan  love-story  and 
see  a  male  tree  (that  is,  one  bearing  male  or  pollen- 
producing  flowers)  incline  toward  a  female,  or 
some  forest  patriarch  stand  mourning  over  his  dead 
wife. 

Even  scientists  admit  that  trees  have  their  laws 
of  marriage  and  courtship.  The  Indian  fig  tree 
is  such  an  ardent  lover  that  he  will  actually  take 
on  the  form  of  a  vine  if  his  mate  chances  to  grow 
a  distance  from  him,  and  by  this  means  reach  out 
his  arms  that  he  may  embrace  her  and  powder  her 
face  with  his  perfumed  pollen.  It  it  not  uncommon 
in  a  great  forest  to  see  trees  affectionately  embrac- 
ing each  other.  Not  a  few  trees  have  become  ex- 
tinct as  a  result  of  intermarriage  with  foreign  trees, 
or  different  species.  In  some  cases  a  healthy  hybrid 
is  produced,  but  more  often  there  are  no  offspring. 

Bark  tells  much ;  in  fact,  it  may  be  said  to  repre- 
sent the  private  note  book  of  the  trees — a  place 
where  all  secrets  are  written.  The  outer  covering 


80     THE  HUMAN  SIDE  OF  TREES 

of  a  youngster  is  green  and  sappy.  Old  trees  ac- 
cumulate a  thick  layer  of  dead,  corky  cells  which 
present  a  shaggy,  venerable  appearance  compatible 
with  dignified  age,  and  not  unlike  in  appearance  the 
wrinkles  on  the  face  of  an  aged  warrior.  The  sas- 
safras tree  takes  on  a  rough  bark  in  two  or  three 
seasons ;  in  other  words,  it  ages  fast ;  but  most  trees 
are  glad  to  retain  the  smoothness  of  youth  for  at 
least  ten  or  twelve  years.  Like  human  beings, 
those  trees  which  are  well  protected  retain  their 
youth  much  longer  than  those  which  have  many 
hardships  and  struggles.  The  beech  presents  an  un- 
ruffled almost  papery  surface — or  skin — all  through 
life.  It  is  therefore  very  susceptible  to  injury. 
Each  variety  of  tree  soon  develops  a  definite,  easily 
recognisable  bark  pattern,  which  serves  as  an  ad- 
mirable means  of  identification. 

Besides  growing  concentrically  in  wood  and  bark 
a  tree  grows  linearly  at  each  twig.  Each  season 
sees  on  each  small  branch  the  repetition  of  the  first- 
year  process  which  developed  the  infant  tree  from 
a  single  leaf  into  an  herbaceous  shoot.  The  end  of 
each  branch  grows  out  a  certain  length  and  then 
provides  itself  with  a  terminal  bud.  The  number 
of  bud  rings  on  a  branch  indicates  its  age,  while 
the  distance  between  them  shows  how  much  it  grew 
each  year.  Each  falling  leaf  makes  its  scar  and  the 


TREES  THAT  KEEP  A  DIARY     81 

scars  thus  give  a  complete  record  of  the  total 
amount  of  foliage.  On  trees  like  the  beech,  flower 
scars  are  also  discernible.  In  this  way  each  branch 
bears  a  complete  and  extremely  accurate  record 
of  its  life  on  its  face.  With  only  a  little  practice 
it  is  possible  to  mark  and  diagram  the  life  history 
of  a  young  tree-shoot  with  the  utmost  precision. 
You  can  point  out  how  old  it  is,  just  how  much  it 
grew  in  all  its  parts  each  year,  and  the  exact  num- 
ber of  leaves  it  put  forth  each  season — in  other 
words,  you  can  take  its  exact  physical  measure- 
ments and  test  its  life  strength  as  a  physical  in- 
structor would  do.  The  lack  of  small  side  branches 
on  a  tree  bespeaks  advanced  age.  The  older  a  tree 
gets,  the  more  sap  it  requires  for  the  main  stem. 
The  lower  small  branches  are  gradually  dropped 
off  as  they  are  no  longer  needed  and  are  an  unneces- 
sary drain  on  the  tree's  resources. 

Each  tree  diary  is  different,  as  the  diary  of  two 
human  beings  would  be  different.  When  we  cut 
into  or  dissect  a  tree  we  get  at  its  intimate  daily  life- 
story.  According  to  Professor  Ferdinand  Cohn, 
some  plant  cells  "are  round  or  oval,  or  resemble 
a  many-sided  crystal.  Some  cells  become  flat  and 
square,  like  a  tile;  some  put  out  rays,  like  a  star, 
or  form  a  zigzag,  like  the  wall  of  a  fortress ;  many 
lengthen  themselves  out.  The  inner  structure  of 


82     THE  HUMAN  SIDE  OF  TREES 

the  cell  also  changes  with  age ;  the  envelope,  delicate 
and  thin  in  youth,  afterward  receives  accretions 
and  ornaments.  Some  cells  have  within  a  hollow 
screw-way,  like  a  winding  stair;  in  others,  the  in- 
side is  covered  with  beautiful  nettings,  rings,  flut- 
ings,  or  lattices.  Most  cells  thicken  their  casings, 
as  the  oyster  does,  by  adding  new  layers  over  the 
older  ones ;  and,  when  their  hollows  are  quite  filled 
up,  they  may  rival  stones  and  bones  in  hardness, 
as,  for  example,  the  cells  of  the  ironwood  and  the 
ivory-nut. 

"As  the  cell-wall  grows  thicker,  fluids  and  gases 
penetrate  its  invisible  pores  with  more  difficulty; 
and  with  continuous  increase  of  thickness  the  liv- 
ing protoplasmic  bodies  inhabiting  its  interior  must 
finally  die  for  want  of  food.  They  in  effect  build 
their  own  coffin,  immure  themselves  living  in  their 
own  cell-prison.  But  a  wonderful  provision  pre- 
vents the  food  being  entirely  cut  off.  While  the 
cell-wall  is  arching  itself  up  more  closely  and 
thickly  a  few  doors  and  windows  are  still  left  open 
in  it,  through  which  communication  may  still  take 
place  with  the  adjoining  cells;  this  occurs  by  the 
cell-wall  not  becoming  strengthened  at  particular 
points;  and  when,  in  the  course  of  time,  the  shell 
has  become  still  thicker  these  places  appear  as  pores 
or  canals  which  lead  outwardlv  from  the  interior  of 


TREES  THAT  KEEP  A  DIARY      83 

the  cell.  And  it  is  worthy  of  remark  that  at  each 
point  where  such  a  canal  penetrates  the  thickened 
cell-wall  a  corresponding  passage  is  also  left  open 
in  the  next  cell,  so  that  the  two  canals  meet  each 
other,  and  are  only  separated  by  a  thin  partition. 
Communication  continues  uninterrupted  by  these 
pore  canals." 

Thus  we  see  that  each  separate  plant  accord- 
ing to  its  own  peculiar  disposition  records  in  its 
cells  its  likes  and  dislikes,  its  ideas  of  art,  of  de- 
fence, unity,  and  all  things  that  go  for  its  better- 
ment and  future  good;  in  other  words,  it  not  only 
gives  us  its  minutest  history  but  also  a  prophecy  of 
its  future  development. 

It  is  quite  a  mistake  to  say  that  a  tree  grows  up. 
What  it  really  does  is  to  add  to  its  girth  each  year 
and  grow  linearly  at  the  ends  of  its  branches. 
This  can  be  demonstrated  by  cutting  some  mark 
(a  love-token  will  do)  in  the  bark  of  a  young 
sapling  and  observing  that  through  the  years  this 
always  remains  the  same  height  above  the  ground. 

In  all  countries  which  have  a  cold  winter  the 
annual  ring-growth  of  wood  in  a  tree's  trunk  is  an 
accurate  indication  of  its  age.  This  concentric 
diary  is  sometimes  illegible  but  always  authentic. 
In  the  tropics,  where  cold  weather  does  not  stop 
tree-growth  regularly  each  year  as  it  does  in  the 


84     THE  HUMAN  SIDE  OF  TREES 

North,  there  are  a  number  of  rings  for  each  year. 
Even  in  the  cold  countries  a  season  of  drought  or 
some  other  climatic  disturbance  may  produce  sub- 
rings  so  prominent  as  to  obscure  the  annual  ones. 
Nevertheless,  they  are  always  there  and  can  be 
made  to  tell  a  tree's  age  within  a  very  few  years. 
Even  female  trees  have  not  yet  found  it  necessary 
to  resort  to  cosmetics  and  face  preparations,  as 
some  human  beings  have  done,  to  conceal  their  cor- 
rect ages.  A  tree  does  not  mind  the  world  knowing 
that  it  is  three  thousand  years  old. 

It  is  unfortunate  that  in  a  great  many  very  old 
trees  the  earliest  pages  of  our  diary  have  not  only 
become  yellow  with  age  but  crumbled  away  entirely. 
Thus  when  in  1812  an  ancient  oak  was  cut  down 
at  Bordza,  Samogitia  (Russian  Poland) ,  there  were 
counted  710  rings  toward  the  centre  on  a  transverse 
section  and  then  the  record  became  entirely  illegi- 
ble. The  missing  portion  was  estimated  to  cover 
about  300  years.  The  age  of  living  trees  may  be 
estimated  by  making  a  lateral  incision  somewhere 
in  the  trunk,  counting  the  number  of  rings  per  inch, 
and,  comparing  these  figures  with  the  diameter, 
thus  computing  the  total  number  of  annual  growths. 

This  diary  of  concentric  rings  tells  much  more 
than  the  mere  age  of  a  tree.  Every  important 
change  of  weather,  every  minor  incident  in  the 


TREES  THAT  KEEP  A  DIARY     85 

tree's  life  is  shown  there  with  unfailing  exactness. 
Let  the  tree  encounter  some  rock  or  other  obstruc- 
tion and  its  pages  at  that  point  will  be  crowded 
and  cramped  for  many  years.  Upon  the  removal 
of  some  overgrown  and  close-pressing  neighbour, 
the  diary-keeper  will  write  in  a  much  freer  and 
larger  hand.  Upon  reaching  maturity  the  strain 
and  attention  given  to  raising  the  first  family  will 
be  reflected  in  shorter  and  less  complete  entries. 
The  pages  which  by  their  position  are  turned  to- 
ward the  sun  inspire  larger  letters  than  the  cramped 
script  turned  out  in  the  semi-darkness  of  the  sun- 
less side.  A  thousand  moods  and  factors  enter 
into  the  composition  of  this  wonderful  manuscript. 
And  who  can  assure  us  that  a  part  of  the  music 
of  the  violin  has  not  been  recorded  in  the  wood  ? 

A  man  wanting  to  do  a  bit  of  research  work  of 
the  most  fascinating  kind  should  go  into  a  lumber- 
ing region  and  make  a  careful  study  of  some  pros- 
trate monarch  of  the  first-growth  era.  He  may 
not  be  able  to  read  the  open  diary  displayed  before 
him  as  thoroughly  as  a  trained  naturalist,  but  many 
outstanding  features  will  be  quite  apparent  and 
will  well  repay  the  trouble  necessary  to  decipher 
them. 

Let  us  imagine  that  we,  as  a  party  of  nature- 
lovers,  are  standing  around  some  great  and  vener- 


86     THE  HUMAN  SIDE  OF  TREES 

able  log.  Some  of  us  are  naturalists,  some  of  us  are 
woodsmen,  some  of  us  are  merely  keen  observers. 
By  our  own  united  efforts  we  hack  out  the  big 
tree's  closest  secrets  and  translate  the  sensations 
and  emotions  of  over  a  thousand  years  into  actual 
words.  What  tragedies  are  revealed!  Perhaps 
an  early  love  affair  caused  the  tree  to  vainly  reach 
out  its  youthful  arms  toward  some  heartless  flirt, 
and  this  great  secret  is  only  revealed  after  many 
years. 

"The  hand  of  man  has  indeed  laid  me  low,  but 
I  am  proud  that  it  took  all  his  skill  and  ingenuity 
to  succeed  where  centuries  of  storm  and  winter- 
ragings  failed!"  boasts  the  tree. 

"You  all  have  agreed  that  I  am  a  white  pine. 
To  save  you  the  measuring,  I  might  tell  you  that 
I  am  150  feet  tall,  8  feet  in  diameter  at  the  base 
and  weigh  an  unbelievable  number  of  tons.  I  am 
a  little  time-worn  but  proud  of  my  scars  as  a  true 
soldier  should  be.  I  have  had  the  misfortune  to 
be  struck  by  lightning  more  times  than  I  can  re- 
member, and  I  have  suffered  all  the  other  hardships 
common  to  the  tree  kingdom.  Yet  for  all  this  I 
have  uncomplainingly  held  my  own  with  the  world, 
and  it  took  a  man-made  axe  to  bring  me  down.  I 
am  proud  that  calamity  overtook  me  standing!" 

A  subdued  titter  runs  round  the  circle  at  this 


TREES  THAT  KEEP  A  DIARY     87 

startling  evidence  of  sylvan  egotism.  The  tree 
does  not  seem  to  notice  it  but  goes  right  on. 

"Mother  Nature  matures  a  million  conifer  seeds 
for  each  one  she  chooses  for  growth.  For  that 
reason  it  is  hard  to  say  just  where  I  came  from. 
The  cone  which  contained  my  seed  may  have  been 
trampled  into  the  earth  by  some  passing  bear,  or 
it  may  have  been  buried  by  some  wandering  squir- 
rel. Yet,  as  my  family  are  a  very  proud  and  aris- 
tocratic race,  magnificently  educated  and  accus- 
tomed to  rare  care  in  sending  their  seed-babies  forth 
into  the  world,  it  is  most  probable  that  I  floated 
from  the  cradle  (seed-cone)  which  was  carefully 
held  in  the  affectionate  arms  of  my  dear  mother, 
and  was  landed  in  a  safe  place  in  the  big  world. 
You  know  that  pine-tree  mothers  never  send  their 
babies  into  the  world  in  a  haphazard  way,  but  al- 
ways have  them  attached  to  a  parachute  when  the 
pine  cone  bursts  open.  The  first  thing  I  remember 
is  when  I  thrust  my  tiny,  adventuresome  head  above 
the  surface  of  the  ground.  Of  course  I  had  al- 
ready slept  some  time  under  the  warm  soil  in  order 
to  spring  up;  then  it  was  that  my  diary  of  con- 
centric rings  began,  and  every  event  of  my  life  is 
recorded  in  characters  of  unmistakable  clearness. 

"A  careful  inspection  of  my  diary  shows  1025 
pages ;  I  am  therefore  1025  years  old  and  was  born 


88     THE  HUMAN  SIDE  OF  TREES 

in  the  year  of  891.  This  was  at  the  time  Alfred 
the  Great  was  slowly  welding  the  rough  Anglo- 
Saxons  into  the  first  beginnings  of  the  England 
of  to-day.  It  was  not  until  600  years  later  that 
the  first  European  was  destined  to  set  foot  on  these 
American  shores.  From  the  American  standpoint 
this  makes  me  a  prehistoric  tree.  I  am  more  Ameri- 
can than  the  Indians  themselves,  and  I  regard  them 
somewhat  in  the  same  light  that  you  regard  the 
immigrants  that  land  here  to-day. 

"By  a  careful  counting  you  can  easily  fix  a  num- 
ber of  important  facts  in  my  life.  When  I  was 
a  vigorous  but  willowy  sapling  of  twenty-five  some 
heavy  object,  probably  a  dead  neighbour,  fell  upon 
me  and  almost  gave  me  curvature  of  the  spine. 
After  some  five  years  of  struggling  I  succeeded 
in  throwing  off  the  encumbrance  and  gradually 
resumed  my  natural  and  upright  position.  For 
almost  a  century  after  that  I  went  through  a  period 
of  even,  rapid  growth  while  I  climbed  my  way  into 
the  upper  air  and  light.  My  rings  grew  sym- 
metrically on  all  sides  with  the  pith  in  the  centre, 
indicating  that  there  were  no  crowding  neighbours 
to  hamper  my  development.  Exceptionally  thick 
rings  tell  of  moist,  sunny  seasons.  Occasional 
thin  ones  indicate  severe  droughts  or  cold  spells. 

"About   1056  a  great  accident  occurred.     My 


TREES  THAT  KEEP  A  DIARY      89 

great-great-grandmother,  a  tree-woman  of  tre- 
mendous proportions,  fell  on  me  and  besides  break- 
ing off  two  of  my  choicest  branches,  drove  her 
sharp  pointed  hands  into  my  side.  They  left  me 
a  temporary  nervous  wreck  with  a  great  ragged 
scar  which  healed  over  the  two  bits  of  wood  your 
axe  just  uncovered  a  moment  ago. 

"I  am  afraid  the  recuperative  powers  of  a  tree 
are  not  always  as  great  as  they  might  be.  Like 
human  beings,  the  more  cultured  we  become,  the 
more  are  we  subject  to  ills  and  consequent  slow- 
ness of  recovery.  It  took  300  years  of  ring-growth 
to  completely  heal  this  wound  and  in  the  mean- 
time I  had  to  fight  off  invasions  of  ants  and  vari- 
ous kinds  of  borers  who,  entering  through  the  open- 
ing, many  times  established  colonies  in  my  vitals. 
Had  it  not  been  for  the  wonderfully  healing  quali- 
ties of  the  turpentine  and  rosin  in  my  blood,  which 
flowed  freely  over  the  wound,  and  for  the  chicka- 
dees and  wood-peckers,  which  aided  in  clearing  out 
these  pestiferous  insects,  I  should  not  be  here  to- 
day. Just  notice  the  little  rows  of  incisions  the 
birds  made  in  my  bark.  They  are  my  best  friends. 
I  love  to  have  them  near  me. 

"In  1256  lightning  or  some  great  storm  tore 
off  one  of  my  highest  limbs  and  shortened  a  shoul- 
der. A  great  bear  used  to  sit  upon  that  crooked 


90     THE  HUMAN  SIDE  OF  TREES 

limb  and  dig  honey  out  of  the  hollow  you  see  in 
the  big  broken  branch.  In  the  year  1345  both  my 
neighbours  and  I  suffered  from  climatic  disturb- 
ances, and  in  1381  I  was  bombarded  by  an  ava- 
lanche of  rocks — so  severely  that  one  of  my  upper 
branches  was  broken  off  and,  as  you  will  see,  fell 
to  the  ground  and  became  petrified.  Two  of  the 
rocks  remained  embedded  in  my  body.  The 
splintered  wood  of  1394  would  indicate  an  earth- 
quake, or  possibly  an  exceptionally  heavy  lightning 
jolt.  Along  about  1400  evidences  of  man  begin  to 
appear.  The  years  1485  and  1486  each  have  flint 
arrow-head  markings  in  their  diary  pages.  What 
a  story  they  could  tell  on  their  own  account! 
1636  (the  745th  year  of  my  life)  shows  axe  and 
fire  markings.  There  is  some  indication  that  in 
1878  my  body  acted  as  a  target  for  some  stray  bul- 
lets. But  of  all  trying  years  1809  was  my  hard- 
est. There  were  troubles  in  swarms ;  my  ring-diary 
is  a  mere  thread  of  wood  at  that  point.  I  was  too 
disturbed  to  record  all  that  happened.  In  1885 
one  of  my  main  side  shoots  went  down  before  an 
accumulated  weight  of  ice  and  snow.  You  can  see 
the  shattered  and  pitiful  stump  it  left  .  .  ." 

Thus  the  fallen  monarch  rambles  on,  like  an  aged 
veteran,  and  has  something  to  say  as  long  as  one 
cares  to  examine  fresh  cross-sections.  Historians 


TREES  THAT  KEEP  A  DIARY      91 

should  realise  that  the  trees  contain  the  most  au- 
thentic records  in  existence. 

It  is  to  fossil  tree  diaries  contained  in  geologic 
and  coal  strata  of  the  earth  that  we  turn  for  prac- 
tically all  our  information  about  the  carboniferous 
and  coal  measure  world  periods.  Tree  trunks, 
often  having  roots  and  branches  attached,  tell  us 
intimately  of  the  long  distant  ages  in  which  they 
flourished.  Cones  and  leaves  indicate  their  forma- 
tion in  great  detail.  The  coal-forming  ages  were 
those  of  great  ferns  and  conifers.  The  calamites 
were  sort  of  immense  asparaguses  and  related  to 
our  modern  ferns  known  as  horse-tails  (equisetum) . 
They  grew  by  underground  stems  which  sent  up 
shoots  into  the  upper  world  at  intervals.  The  hum- 
ble three-foot  lycopodes  of  our  day,  whose  chief 
means  of  protection  against  grazing  animals  are 
their  ability  to  poison  their  destroyers,  were  80- 
foot  trees  then.  The  segillarias  rose  to  a  height 
of  100  feet.  Queer  spotted  and  corrugated  trunks 
lifted  their  thick  heads  everywhere  out  of  the 
marshy  and  fog-covered  land.  Flowers  were  hardly 
in  existence.  It  is  estimated  that  it  required  the 
passage  of  122,500  years  to  accumulate  sixty  feet 
of  coal.  We  are  indeed  fortunate  in  having  numer- 
ous tree  diaries  to  help  us  mentally  reconstruct 
the  mighty  age  in  which  they  lived. 


VII 

TREES  AND  THEIR  BUSINESS  METHODS 

IN  the  tree  world,  as  in  the  human,  business  suc- 
cess depends  upon  such  factors  as  heredity,  en- 
vironment, education,  ambition  and  working  meth- 
ods. Some  trees  like  the  scrub  oak  seem  satisfied 
with  eking  out  a  bare  existence  on  some  lone  hill- 
side. Others,  like  the  giant  redwoods,  grow  to 
magnificent  proportions  and  become  the  millionaire 
capitalists  of  the  forest.  Behind  each  is  a  story 
of  influences  and  selective  development  stretching 
back  to  the  creation.  Each  tree  and  many  human 
beings  are  largely  the  product  of  forces  over  which 
they  have  no  control. 

In  the  case  of  a  tree,  there  are  a  thousand  im- 
presses bearing  on  its  life.  To  begin  with,  mys- 
teriously wrapped  up  in  the  seed  or  nut  is  a  fac- 
simile of  its  immediate  forbears  with  minor  devia- 
tions harking  back  to  remote  ancestors.  As  soon 
as  the  seedling  emerges  from  its  temporary  prison 
it  sets  out  to  realise  its  predetermined  structure. 
If  it  were  growing  under  a  glass  dome  with  an 


TREES  AND  THEIR  METHODS     93 

expert  gardener  to  keep  its  supply  of  air,  water, 
sun  and  soil  nutriment  just  right,  it  might  succeed. 
As  it  is  growing  out  in  the  busy  element-racked 
world,  it  is  forced  to  make  slight  changes  in  its 
plans  before  it  is  a  year  old.  The  first  thing  it  may 
notice  is  that  there  is  too  much  moisture  in  the  air 
to  suit  its  particular  style  of  beauty.  Just  when  it 
is  getting  adjusted  to  that,  a  drought  comes  along 
and  conspires  with  an  unusually  hot  sun  to  burn 
it  off  the  face  of  the  earth.  Weakly  escaping,  it 
is  all  but  uprooted  by  a  hurricane  and  given  a  per- 
manent tilt  to  leeward.  In  its  fifth  year  some  un- 
gainly animal  attempts  to  tread  it  under  foot  and 
only  succeeds  in  giving  an  ugly  and  life-long  droop 
to  one  of  its  most  promising  branches.  So  it  goes 
all  through  the  years.  Our  brave  sapling  spends 
most  of  its  thought  and  energies  in  adapting  itself 
to  new  and  trying  conditions.  It  is  in  the  grip  of 
the  famous  "survival  of  the  fittest"  regime.  As  it 
succeeds  in  surviving,  we  admire  or  pity  it. 

The  vicissitudes  of  a  forest  tree  and  those  of  a 
man-tended  garden  tree  are  quite  different,  with 
a  corresponding  divergence  in  their  business  meth- 
ods. In  a  dense  wood  there  is  what  one  might 
call  a  free-for-all  fight  for  air,  water  and  earth 
continually  in  progress.  Weak  brethren  are 
crowded  not  to  the  wall  but  up  against  the  dense, 


94     THE  HUMAN  SIDE  OF  TREES 

sun-obscuring  foliage  of  close-standing  neighbours. 
The  motto  is:  be  a  quick-growing  giant  and  force 
yourself  up  into  the  luxury  of  upper  air  and  light 
or  lie  down  and  die.  So  the  members  of  a  pine 
forest  hold  their  arms  close  to  their  sides  and  poke 
long  slender  necks  up  toward  the  source  of  all 
light  and  power.  On  the  other  hand,  if  given  the 
space  and  light  of  some  open  spot,  they  put  out 
generous  lower  branches  much  like  other  tree  folks. 
The  hard  conditions  of  sylvan  life  develop 
strong  hardy  types  of  trees,  but  many  individuals 
are  lost  in  the  shuffle.  Civilised  trees,  like  civilised 
men  at  their  best,  show  the  highest,  all-round  de- 
velopment. Given  ideal  location,  food,  protection 
and  attention,  with  even  heredity  helped  along  by 
seed  selection,  the  trees  of  our  parks  and  meadows 
undoubtedly  become  the  strong  men  and  beauties 
of  their  race.  Yet  there  is  every  indication  that 
they  pay  the  price  by  a  loss  of  resistance  to  the 
dangers  and  trials  of  their  old  life.  This  is  par- 
ticularly true  of  fruit  trees,  which  are  the  "softest" 
and  most  educated  of  their  kind.  Neglected  apple 
trees  seem  to  degenerate.  They  become  knotted 
and  gnarled.  Their  fruit  gets  small  and  bitter. 
The  trees  of  abandoned  orange  groves  revert  to 
savagery  at  once,  arming  themselves  with  immense 
thorns. 


TREES  AND  THEIR  METHODS     95 

Some  wild  trees,  like  many  wild  animals,  do  not 
thrive  in  captivity.  Spruces,  particularly,  seem  un- 
able to  adjust  their  business  methods  to  fit  the 
conditions  of  man-raked  lawns.  Individuals  which 
will  thrive  in  the  rocky  fissures  of  some  desolate 
glen  will  droop  and  die  in  a  well-kept  backyard. 

The  annual  temperature  and  the  annual  rainfall 
are  the  primary  things  which  affect  tree  growth 
and  therefore  sylvan  business  methods.  Other  in- 
fluences which  the  trees  have  to  take  into  considera- 
tion are  humidity  of  air,  wind  exposure,  slope 
exposure,  degree  of  slope,  and  soil  depth.  Many 
trees  overcome  variations  in  moisture  by  sending 
roots  far  down  into  the  sub-soil.  This  makes  them 
unaffected  by  ordinary  droughts  provided  the 
year's  precipitation  is  normal.  The  yellow  pine 
flourishes  equally  well  on  the  slopes  of  the  Sierra 
Mountains,  where  most  of  the  rainfall  occurs  in 
winter,  and  on  the  Colorado  Plateau  of  Arizona, 
where  summer  is  the  wet  season. 

Most  trees  adjust  themselves  to  winds  of  all  ve- 
locities. With  extra  root  braces  they  face  the  most 
trying  storms.  The  altitude  line  of  the  yellow  pine 
is  much  the  same  all  over  the  United  States,  indi- 
cating that  places  of  exceptional  exposure  do  not 
become  untenable  to  the  trees. 

When  the  wind  or  the  cold  becomes  very  severe 


96     THE  HUMAN  SIDE  OF  TREES 

on  the  mountains,  the  trees  grow  small  and  com- 
pact hugging  the  ground  almost  like  bushes.  This 
tends  to  make  them  crooked  and  deformed  and  a 
little  unlovely,  but  they  have  an  important  place 
in  the  economy  of  the  woods.  The  scrubby-looking 
trees  far  up  on  the  timber  line  help  to  bind  down 
the  earth  and  shade  the  moss  of  those  altitudes. 
The  earth  and  the  moss  soak  up  the  rain  as  its  falls 
and  thus  prevent  the  water  from  tearing  madly 
down  the  slope  in  a  devastating  flood  to  be  later 
succeeded  by  a  more  injurious  drought.  The  aris- 
tocratic trees  of  the  valley  owe  their  lives  and  pros- 
perity to  their  stunted  brethren  high  above  them. 

The  life  of  the  ordinary  tree  of  the  forest  is 
marked  by  a  continual  use  of  shrewd  and  ingenious 
business  methods.  Every  one  knows  how  the  trees 
protect  themselves  from  the  winter  cold  by  an  extra 
coat  of  bark  and  moss  on  the  side  of  the  prevailing 
winds  (usually  the  north).  Conversely,  the  long- 
est and  largest  limbs  are  most  often  to  be  found  on 
the  southern  exposure,  away  from  the  dangers  of 
the  icy  blast. 

The  trees  are  the  best  mechanical  engineers  in 
the  world.  Each  individual  is  built  so  that  the 
various  loads  and  stresses  of  its  body  are  taken  care 
of  to  best  advantage.  The  main  stems  of  tapering 
trees,  like  the  California  pines,  in  structural  de- 


TREES  AND  THEIR  METHODS     97 

sign  are  much  like  the  Eiffel  Tower  or  certain 
types  of  bridge  piers.  The  ordinary  tree  has  a 
much  finer  problem  of  balance  and  adjustment  on 
its  hands.  Exposed  specimens  have  powerful  re- 
inforcement in  the  shape  of  large  wind-struts  near 
the  base  which  extend  to  anchoring  roots  much  like 
the  flying  buttresses  of  Gothic  architecture.  Liv- 
ing cells  are  the  trees'  building  material.  Those 
near  the  base  must  have  a  compressive  strength 
equal  to  the  entire  weight  above.  Those  in  a  limb 
must  have  strength  to  resist  the  bending  power  of 
gravity. 

Trees  in  the  forest  are  always  very  quick  to  take 
advantage  of  every  scrap  of  air  and  sunlight  to 
be  had.  When  a  citizen  of  a  tree  city  falls,  his  sur- 
rounding neighbours  at  once  send  out  branches  to 
fill  the  space  which  he  leaves  vacant.  The  pines 
have  a  habit  of  dropping  needles  around  their  bases 
until  they  have  built  miniature  hills  on  which  they 
stand.  These  mounds  serve  a  very  useful  purpose 
in  draining  the  water  away  from  their  trunks.  The 
pines  are  exclusive  almost  to  the  point  of  snobbery. 
They  often  mat  over  large  areas  in  their  vicinity 
with  their  needles  to  such  a  depth  that  nothing  else 
can  grow  there. 

The  manifold  shapes  and  forms  of  the  different 
tree  leaves  often  have  a  utilitarian  basis.  The  im- 


98     THE  HUMAN  SIDE  OF  TREES 

mense,  umbrella-like  appendages  of  the  palm  serve 
to  drain  and  shade  the  tree.  The  five-pointed  leaves 
of  the  sweet  gum  prove  quick  absorbers  of  sun- 
light. Trees  of  the  far  north,  like  the  scrub  wil- 
low, often  have  tiny  leaves  which  point  down  and 
dispose  of  any  ice  or  snow  which  comes  their  way. 

The  "sneeze  wood"  tree  of  South  Africa  has  a 
unique  way  of  protecting  itself  against  enemies. 
Its  wood  is  light  brown  in  colour,  runs  very  close- 
grained,  is  so  hard  as  to  sink  in  water,  is  bitter  to 
the  taste  and  emits  a  microscopic  dust  on  being 
sawed  or  cut.  No  insect  or  worm  will  touch  it  and 
men  who  handle  it  are  continually  sneezing. 

Sometimes  the  trees  form  business  alliances  with 
other  dwellers  in  the  forest.  Such  species  as  the 
pines  not  only  provide  shelter  for  birds  and  small 
animals  but  furnish  the  straw  to  line  their  nests. 
A  hollow  tree  will  serve  as  a  home  for  hundreds 
of  wasps,  bees  or  ants.  All  such  creatures  will 
naturally  take  a  proprietary  interest  in  their  dwell- 
ing place  and  ward  off  the  attacks  of  anything 
which  would  injure  it.  Even  frogs  and  snakes  are 
sometimes  allies  of  the  trees. 

There  was  once  an  elm  which  was  terribly  burnt 
and  scorched  by  a  nearby  house  which  got  on  fire. 
All  the  bark  and  limbs  on  the  exposed  side  became 
black  and  lifeless.  Every  one  thought  the  tree 


TREES  AND  THEIR  METHODS     99 

would  surely  die,  but  did  not  take  into  account 
an  inherited  pluck.  Though  worse  than  a  cripple, 
it  valiantly  put  out  new  shoots  from  the  uninjured 
side  and  soon  had  increased  its  leaf  area  sufficiently 
to  give  it  a  new  and  promising  start  in  life. 

This  incident  illustrates  the  marvellous  capacity 
for  adaptability  possessed  by  many  trees.  The  ob- 
stacles they  sometimes  surmount  are  truly  sur- 
prising. 

People  tell  the  story  of  a  certain  silver  maple 
which  was  split  in  two  by  a  lightning  stroke.  One 
of  the  halves  was  left  standing,  horribly  bruised 
and  maimed.  In  a  few  months  the  exposed  wound 
began  to  decay  hopelessly.  Forthwith  the  tree  sent 
out  adventitious  roots  from  the  surrounding  bark 
to  bolster  its  waning  strength  by  sapping  nourish- 
ment from  its  own  decaying  heartwood.  Instead 
of  asking  for  a  transfusion  of  blood,  this  plucky 
maple  sucked  its  own. 

Another  maple  through  some  accident  lost  all 
its  bark  and  the  all-important  cambium  layer  from 
a  short  section  of  its  trunk  just  above  the  ground. 
This  had  the  effect  of  cutting  off  the  upper  leaves 
and  branches  from  the  nourishment-giving  roots. 
Quick  death  would  have  been  the  inevitable  result 
had  not  the  resourceful  creature  at  once  put  out  an 
aerial  root  from  a  point  just  above  the  wound. 


100  THE  HUMAN  SIDE  OF  TREES 

This  root,  after  traversing  the  exposed  heartwood, 
entered  the  ground,  and  at  once  set  about  supply- 
ing food  for  the  whole  tree.  The  task  proved  so 
Herculean  that  the  maple  finally  gave  up  and 
withered  away  to  an  honourable  death. 

Occasionally  one  sees  a  tree  with  a  divided  base, 
a  case  where  two  trunks  merge  into  one  a  few 
feet  above  the  ground.  A  likely  explanation  for 
this  peculiar  arrangement  is  this:  a  wind-carried 
seed  is  deposited  on  the  top  of  a  decapitated  stump. 
The  sprouting  seedling  gets  some  nourishment  from 
the  decayed  wood  of  its  natal  perch,  but  soon  de- 
cides that  if  it  is  ever  to  get  ahead  in  the  world  it 
must  reach  the  solid  earth.  Forthwith  it  sends 
down  two  slender  roots,  one  on  each  side  of  the 
stump.  These  serve  their  purpose  admirably  and, 
as  they  grow,  assume  the  look  and  function  of 
twin  trunks.  In  time  the  old  stump  rots  away  and 
the  tree  which  once  sat  on  its  back  is  left  high  and 
dry  on  a  pair  of  stilts.  The  birch  is  a  tree  very 
likely  to  do  this  sort  of  thing. 

There  is  on  record  the  case  of  a  catalpa  tree 
which  through  great  age  had  become  a  mere  shell. 
In  fear  of  a  general  collapse,  somebody  took  down 
the  tree's  whole  top,  leaving  the  hollow  trunk  stand- 
ing bolt  upright  like  some  great  natural  chimney. 
Into  this  huge  flue  an  ailanthus  seed  blew  one  day 


A  GOOSEQUILL  RKJ)W(X)I)  REARING  ITS  YOUNG  WITHIN  ITS  OWN  BODY 


TREES  AND  THEIR  METHODS   101 

and  soon  had  grown  into  a  lusty  little  sapling  com- 
pletely within  the  body  of  its  host.  The  catalpa 
seemed  to  receive  revived  hope  from  this  exhibi- 
tion and  put  out  some  vigorous  new  lateral  shoots 
from  its  hollow  walls.  Here  was  an  example  of 
one  tree  growing  within  the  other. 

A  case  of  the  same  kind  is  shown  in  one  of  our 
illustrations.  This  young  sequoia  of  the  goosequill 
redwood  variety  is  sheltered  within  the  hollow  trunk 
of  its  parent.  It  will  undoubtedly  have  a  success- 
ful and  rapid  growth. 

Every  thrifty  tree  stores  quantities  of  nourish- 
ing starch  and  gum  in  its  wood  for  just  such  emer- 
gencies. There  come  times  when  it  is  necessary  to 
put  out  buds  from  the  main  stem  instead  of  the 
remote  branches.  The  starch  and  gum  is  what  they 
live  on.  Occasionally  one  sees  a  floating  log  or  a 
fence  post  or  even  a  rustic  bench  sprouting  in  one 
last  desperate  effort  to  retain  a  hold  on  life. 

When  one  sees  two  tree  trunks  twisted  or  curved 
about  each  other,  it  is  not  always  a  case  of  brotherly 
love.  It  is  more  likely  a  case  of  accidental  prox- 
imity with  a  corresponding  struggle  for  supremacy. 

Two  hemlocks  once  grew  together  on  a  certain 
waterside  rock  until  they  became  too  big  for  their 
combined  foothold.  The  larger  tree  nearer  the 
land  opened  hostilities  by  spreading  its  boughs 


102   THE  HUMAN  SIDE  OF  TREES 

wider  and  wider  as  if  to  push  the  other  into  the 
water.  The  second  hemlock  felt  the  strain,  but  in- 
stead of  submitting,  produced  a  huge  root  which 
coiled  around  the  aggressor's  trunk  in  a  strangle 
hold  which  said:  "If  I  fall,  you  go  with  me." 

In  such  ways  do  the  trees  adapt  their  business 
methods  to  strange  and  extraordinary  conditions. 
In  many  cases  they  are  more  sagacious  than  men. 


VIII 

TREES  THAT  MANUFACTURE 

The  poplar  there 
Shoots  up  its  spire,  and  shakes  its  leaves  i'  the  sun. 

— CORNWALL. 

A  MONG  the  many  and  diverse  products  manu- 
•**•  f  actured  by  the  trees  are  oils,  perfumes,  gums, 
syrups,  gases,  fibres,  laces,  threads,  dyes,  drugs, 
dfemicals,  food  material,  beverages,  tar,  pitch,  tur- 
pentine, rosin,  paint,  chewing  gum,  rubber,  cork, 
water,  milk,  honey,  intoxicating  liquors — and  this 
is  only  a  partial  and  very  fragmentary  enumera- 
tion. All  of  these  are  things  which  are  economically 
important  to  man.  Other  articles  which  trees  pro- 
duce more  for  their  own  welfare  may  be  listed  as 
needles,  pins,  razors,  daggers,  swords,  spears, 
plates,  cups,  saucers,  knives,  forks,  caves,  cisterns, 
faucets,  hats,  dresses,  coats,  airships,  balloons, 
boats,  submarines,  munitions,  musical  instruments, 
tombstones,  coffins,  ropes,  swings,  hammocks,  um- 
brellas, pumps,  bird  houses,  bee  hives,  cages,  beds, 

necklaces  and  beads. 

103 


104  THE  HUMAN  SIDE  OF  TREES 

Trees  do  more  than  manufacture.  Many  of 
them  have  reached  the  factory  stage  of  production, 
and  by  large  scale  and  mandatory  monopolies  of 
raw  materials  not  only  force  competitors  to  the  wall 
but  deny  them  space  in  which  to  eke  out  an  ex- 
istence. Few  plants  or  trees  are  hardy  enough  to 
establish  themselves  in  a  pine  tree  city.  The  auto- 
cratic conifers  have  such  a  trust-like  grip  on  air, 
soil  and  water  that  an  intruder  can  do  little  more 
than  shrivel  up  and  die.  Some  trees,  like  those  of 
the  great  tropical  forests,  seem  to  enjoy  having  all 
kinds  and  sorts  of  small  plants  thrive  at  their  feet. 
But  this  is  not  true  of  the  pines;  it  is  only  when 
they  have  exhausted  all  the  food  material  of  a 
place  and  themselves  fall  before  the  Sherman  Anti- 
trust Law  of  time  that  the  small  competitors  have 
a  chance. 

Not  a  tree  exists  that  is  not  engaged  in  some 
kind  of  manufacture.  They  are  by  nature  manu- 
facturers, and  their  very  life  processes  are  those 
of  their  chosen  profession.  Man  subsists  largely 
on  elements  which  other  plants  and  animals  have 
already  arranged  in  organic  form.  It  is  the  tree's 
problem  to  take  carbon  dioxide  from  the  air  and 
water  and  minerals  from  the  earth  and  from  these 
simple  things  manufacture  living  and  complex  tis- 
sue. Nothing  is  more  wonderful  and  mystical  than 


TREES  THAT  MANUFACTURE   105 

the  plant  process  of  photosynthesis  by  which  the 
tree-leaves,  breathing  in  atmospheric  carbon  diox- 
ide, combine  it  with  certain  soil  elements  to  form 
starch,  which,  being  transformed  into  sugar,  is  con- 
veyed as  sap  to  all  parts  of  the  organism. 

To  describe  in  detail  just  how  the  various  tree- 
products  are  manufactured  would  make  a  book  in 
itself.  We  shall  have  to  content  ourselves  with 
considering  only  a  few.  Among  the  many  oils 
cocoanut-oil,  castor-oil  and  camphor-oil  are  good 
examples.  The  lilac,  apple,  peach,  rose,  cherry, 
orange  or  almost  any  flowering  tree  manufactures 
perfume.  In  cases  like  the  magnolia  the  flowers 
are  so  highly  perfumed  as  to  be  almost  nauseating. 
The  perfume  is  not  always  found  in  the  flowers; 
sometimes,  as  in  the  sandal  wood  and  sassafras, 
the  wood  itself  is  perfumed.  These  woods  |are 
frequently  burned  for  their  perfume. 

There  are  numerous  trees  which  manufacture 
gum ;  the  gum-amber  and  the  chicle  are  the  best  ex- 
amples. Even  such  common  trees  as  the  cherry  and 
the  plum  exude  a  vegetable  mucilage  which  might 
be  classified  as  gum.  The  gum  of  commerce  comes 
from  Africa  and  Arabia.  The  trees  which  manu- 
facture it  are  the  sahel,  fatack  and  hiebar.  The 
first  produces  a  white  gum  held  in  much  esteem 
and  called  vereck:  the  other  two  turn  out  the  red 


106  THE  HUMAN  SIDE  OF  TREES 

nebuel  of  the  trade  world.  In  Sicily  the  natives 
find  a  sugary  gum  exuding  from  the  flowering  ash 
tree;  they  gather  it  with  a  knife  in  the  same  way 
that  children  gather  chewing-gum  from  the  spruce 
tree.  There  are  similar  exudations  in  the  larch 
tree.  Some  of  these  gums,  especially  the  sugary 
ones,  are  fairly  nutritive.  It  is  said  that  members 
of  lost  caravans  have  more  than  once  been  saved 
from  starvation  by  eating  gum  contained  in  their 
cargoes. 

Syrups,  which  are  really  thinner  gums,  are  ex- 
emplified by  the  common  maple  syrup,  and  also  by 
the  sap  of  such  smaller  plants  as  the  cane  and  the 
corn.  These,  in  various  degrees  of  density  and  in 
unlimited  flavours,  form  valuable  foods  for  human- 
ity as  well  as  numerous  plants  and  animals.  Trees 
always  manufacture  the  exact  things  they  need; 
man  should  remember  that  he  is  only  one  of  na- 
ture's wonders! 

All  trees  exhale  oxygen  or  other  gases;  in  the 
tropics  there  is  a  gas  tree  with  exquisite  white  flow- 
ers, and  tapering,  candle-like  branches.  The  exu- 
dation of  gas  takes  place  in  the  form  of  vapour. 
Another  very  interesting  gas  plant,  the  fraxinella, 
exudes  such  quantities  of  gas  that  if  it  be  protected 
from  the  wind  by  means  of  a  paper  or  sheets  of 
glass  and  a  match  applied,  it  immediately  takes 


TREES  THAT  MANUFACTURE    107 

fire  and  gives  out  an  exquisite  bright,  sparkling 
light,  like  that  of  the  effective  lycopodium  in  the 
old  time  melodrama. 

The  tropical  lace-tree  weaves  patterns  which  are 
the  envy  and  despair  of  all  needle  workers  and  are 
reminiscent  of  the  wonderful  needlecraft  of  the 
submerged  water  plants  with  their  laces,  frills,  and 
ribbons!  Many  trees  manufacture  fibres  and 
threads.  Bark  often  takes  the  form  of  beautiful 
mosaics.  In  all  trees  bark  grows  on  the  inside; 
that  is,  the  active  cambium  layer  keeps  adding 
annual  growths  on  the  inner  side  of  the  accumula- 
tions of  the  past  years.  The  same  layer  of  bark 
which  enclosed  the  sapling  stem  of  two  summers 
girdles  the  trunk  of  the  young  hopeful  of  twenty. 
To  take  care  of  the  trunk-growth  of  the  tree  this 
initial  bark  ordinarily  stretches  and  finally  cracks 
open  and  shows  the  furrowed  surface  with  which 
we  are  all  familiar.  In  the  lace-tree,  by  some 
caprice  of  nature,  it  does  not  crack  open,  but  con- 
tinues to  stretch  until  it  shows  every  vein  and  cell- 
grouping  in  a  marvellous  vegetable  lace-tracery, 
like  man-made  lace  stretched  over  a  frame. 

Trees  are  the  great  sources  of  the  natural  mor- 
dant vegetable  dyes,  which  are  not  complete  dyes 
in  themselves  but  are  usually  weak  acids  which, 
combining  with  certain  metallic  oxides,  form  fast 


108  THE  HUMAN  SIDE  OF  TREES 

and  brilliant  colours.  Thus  one  of  our  most  im- 
portant black  and  dark  blue  cloth  dyes  has  its 
base  in  logwood,  which  is  the  heartwood  of  the 
Hcematoxylon  campecManum  of  Central  Amer- 
ica. Peach  wood,  sapanwood,  limawood  (known  as 
the  soluble  redwoods)  and  camwood,  barwood  and 
sanderwood  (known  as  the  insoluble  redwoods), 
all  of  tropical  origin,  are  likewise  important  among 
the  vegetable  dyes.  Quercitron  bark,  which  is  the 
inner  bark  of  the  oak  tree,  in  solution  with  alu- 
minum or  tin  forms  a  bright  yellow.  Every  one  is 
familiar  with  the  red  oak  dye. 

Of  tree-drugs  there  is  no  end.  From  earliest 
times  man  has  resorted  to  the  leaves,  bark  and  roots 
of  trees  and  plants  when  in  need  of  medicine.  The 
cinchona,  from  which  quinine  is  taken,  is  invaluable. 
Quinine  is  the  only  known  cure  for  those  dreadful 
fevers  which  are  produced  by  the  abundant  vegeta- 
tion in  the  very  place  where  the  cinchona  thrives. 
Scientists  in  the  near  future  will  doubtless  discover 
excellent  uses  for  all  apparently  noxious  plants. 

The  chulmugra  tree  of  India  manufactures  in 
its  seeds  an  oil  very  beneficial  in  the  treatment  of 
skin  diseases.  The  wonderful  qualities  of  the 
Lobelia  sypkilitica  need  no  comment.  The  root-bark 
of  the  rusot  (Berberis  aristata)  furnishes  a  valuable 
medical  extract.  Several  volumes  might  be  written 


TREES  THAT  MANUFACTURE   109 

on  tree  drugs  and  chemicals;  there  are  few  trees 
which  do  not  supply  us  with  some  form  of  drug. 

There  is  scarcely  any  need  to  mention  trees  which 
furnish  us  with  food  material.  To  list  all  the  fruits 
alone  would  be  a  lengthy  task.  They  constitute 
some  of  the  most  delicious  foods  known  to  man. 
Half  the  delight  of  a  trip  to  the  tropics  lies  in  the 
sampling  of  many  strange-looking  but  delicious 
fruits.  As  children  some  of  us  may  have  eaten  the 
brightly  coloured  and  spicy  nasturtium  flower, 
but  we  would  be  quite  astonished,  even  to-day,  if 
some  one  were  to  tell  us  that  there  was  a  country 
where  flowers  are  a  staple  article  of  diet.  Such  is 
the  case,  however.  The  country  is  India,  and  the 
flower  is  a  heavy,  edible  blossom  borne  by  the 
Mahwa  tree.  The  corollas  of  these  flowers  provide 
a  much  appreciated  feast  for  animal  and  man  at 
certain  times  of  the  year.  The  surplus  is  pressed 
into  bales  which  look  like  great  bundles  of  decayed 
raisins  and  is  fed  to  pigs  and  cattle.  A  portion  of 
the  flowers  is  also  distilled  into  a  species  of  spirit 
which  smells  like  whiskey. 

What  would  man  do  to-day  without  tea,  coffee, 
and  cocoa?  It  ought  to  make  us  feel  a  little 
ashamed  to  think  how  dependent  we  have  become 
on  these  stimulating  tree-beverages.  Yet  we  must 
deal  with  facts  and  not  theories.  Father,  mother, 


110   THE  HUMAN  SIDE  OF  TREES 

and  the  children  must  have  their  morning  cup. 
Society  must  have  its  afternoon  tea.  It  is  not  at 
all  certain  that  the  majority  of  mankind,  living 
under  unnatural  conditions,  does  not  really  need 
some  mild  stimulant  to  work  most  efficiently. 

Nature  offers  beverages  of  all  kinds!  A  be- 
nighted traveller  in  the  South  American  forests 
finds  himself  in  a  situation  almost  as  hopeless  as 
one  lost  in  the  deserts  of  Africa.  There  are  no  cool 
springs,  nor  rocks  from  which  water  flows;  and 
where  he  does  find  water  it  is  filled  with  decaying 
and  obnoxious  vegetation.  Sometimes,  however,  he 
is  fortunate  enough  to  discover  the  purple  sarra- 
cenia.  This  marvellous  plant's  circling  leaves  unite 
at  their  outer  border  and  form  a  graceful  and  ele- 
gant drinking  cup.  This  exquisite  goblet  is  deco- 
rated with  scarlet  veins — and  the  art  of  Etruria 
or  Sevres  never  constructed  one  more  elegant.  It 
is  filled  with  clean  delicious  water  and  the  weary 
traveller  may  drink  with  entire  safety.  In  India 
the  natives  are  furnished  with  reservoirs,  which  they 
call  monkey  cups.  These  flowery  vessels  are  pro- 
vided with  delicate  lids,  which  the  careful  plant 
always  closes  at  night.  Some  of  these  cups  will 
hold  two  pints  of  water. 

If  man  wishes  milk  while  travelling  in  the  forests 
of  Caracas,  South  America,  Mother  Nature  is 


TREES  THAT  MANUFACTURE    111 

ready  and  willing  to  supply  him.  The  cow-tree 
gives  abundant  quantities ;  it  has  not  only  the  exact 
appearance  but  all  the  qualities  of  cow's  milk. 

Certain  trees  act  as  churns.  The  natives  of  the 
Niger  gather  immense  quantities  of  butter  from  the 
butter-tree.  It  abounds  in  great  quantities  and  is 
likely  to  become  an  article  of  commerce.  In  the 
olden  days  the  slave-dealer  dreaded  it  more  than 
anything  else.  It  tended  to  bring  his  country  into 
touch  with  civilisation,  and  once  the  King  of  Da- 
homey ordered  its  extermination.  It  was  annually 
burned  by  royal  decree,  but  it  annually  sprang  up 
again. 

It  must  be  confessed  that  nature  also  has  her 
wine!  The  wine-palm  of  Western  Africa  yields  a 
delicious  sap  which  is  mild  when  first  drawn,  but 
begins  to  ferment  in  a  very  few  moments  after  it 
is  exposed  to  the  air.  The  teetotaler  may  inform 
us  that  even  though  Mother  Nature  produces  wine, 
she  does  this  in  only  one  country  while  she  produces 
water  in  all. 

Pitch,  tar,  and  turpentine  are  resinous  products 
present  in  many  varieties  of  trees  but  which  in  the 
United  States  are  obtained  commercially  from  the 
pine  family  and  more  particularly  from  the  Pinus 
palustris  of  the  Southern  States.  In  Florida  and 
Texas  great  gangs  of  men  go  out  every  year  into 


112   THE  HUMAN  SIDE  OF  TREES 

the  big  pine  barrens  in  quest  of  turpentine.  Sap 
flowing  from  incisions  made  in  the  tree-trunks  is 
collected  and  upon  distillation  yields  water,  resin 
and  turpentine.  Formerly  much  cruelty  and  need- 
less destruction  was  visited  on  the  trees  by  hollow- 
ing out  cups  to  catch  the  sap  in  the  heart  of  the 
creatures  themselves,  but  now  the  liquid  is  collected 
in  earthenware  vessels.  It  has  been  proved  that  this 
sensible  method  means  saved  trees,  a  lower  fire  risk 
and  increased  output  of  turpentine.  Turpentine 
finds  the  greatest  uses  in  paints,  varnishes  and  medi- 
cines. 

To  obtain  tar  the  bodies  of  trees  are  put  through 
a  process  of  destructive  distillation  either  by  burn- 
ing in  kilns  or  as  a  by-product  in  the  production 
of  wood-vinegar  (pyroligneous  acid)  and  wood 
alcohol  (methyl) .  A  further  refining  of  tar  yields 
pitch — a  substance  of  dark  colour  and  brilliant 
lustre. 

All  man's  wonderful  inventions  are  copied  after 
Mother  Nature's  marvellous  arts.  This  is  espe- 
cially true  of  household  supplies.  The  grandeur 
of  man's  achievements  pales  before  the  grandeur  of 
Nature.  She  has  her  bath  every  summer  morning ; 
her  cisterns  never  fail;  her  pumps  never  get  out 
of  order.  For  several  hours  after  sunrise  her  leaves 
are  covered  with  dew;  her  flowers  sparkle  with  a 


TREES  THAT  MANUFACTURE   113 

delightful  brilliancy.  This  brilliancy  is  often  due 
to  the  cold  having  condensed  the  aqueous  vapour 
in  the  atmosphere,  but  quite  frequently  it  is  pro- 
duced by  the  exudation  of  water  from  leaf -pores. 
The  trees  are  washing  their  faces. 

Nor  is  Nature  satisfied  in  giving  us  wonderful 
things  to  eat;  she  is  also  quite  as  much  interested 
in  toilet  articles — thus  we  have  combs,  soap,  and 
perfumes ;  and  lights  for  use  indoors.  The  Chinese 
long  ago  learned  to  use  the  seeds  of  the  Ieguminosa3 
for  soap.  Many  of  the  mendicant  friars  of  the 
Middle  Ages  used  the  leaves  of  the  soapwort  for 
cleansing  purposes.  There  are  numerous  other 
plants  which  are  used  for  various  cleansing  and 
scouring  purposes.  The  fibre  of  certain  tropical 
gourds  is  used  for  wash-cloths.  Certain  of  the 
horsetails  are  used  for  polishing  metal. 

Perhaps  in  the  manufacture  of  perfumes  Nature 
is  most  successful.  Rosemary  is  so  common  to 
Spain  that  the  mariner  can  smell  it  leagues  out  at 
sea.  France  produces  the  finest  perfumes ;  immense 
gardens  of  flowers  are  cultivated  exclusively  for 
that  purpose.  Their  sap  is  condensed  and  shipped 
to  all  parts  of  the  civilised  world.  In  one  establish- 
ment at  Cannes  they  use  annually  nearly 
200,000  pounds  avoirdupois  of  orange  flowers,  the 
same  amount  of  rose  flowers,  13,000  pounds  of  black 


114   THE  HUMAN  SIDE  OF  TREES 

currant  flowers,  50  pounds  of  jasmine  flowers, 
many  thousands  of  pounds  of  violets,  100  thousand 
pounds  of  tuberoses,  and  innumerable  pounds  of 
carnations,  to  say  nothing  of  many  smaller 
plants. 

Nature's  perfumes  are  for  her  own  use,  and  they 
are  many  and  varied.  She  uses  with  wonderful 
skill  her  combinations  of  colour  and  perfume  to 
aid  in  attracting  insects  to  her  flowers.  These  in- 
sects are  often  the  main  distributors  of  pollen  from 
flower  to  flower.  They  are  usually  rewarded  with 
honey. 

All  trees  are  manufacturers  of  beauty  and  charm. 
An  exquisite  creature  like  the  southern  pomette 
bleue  (Cratcegus  brachyacantha)  may  not  have 
marked  commercial  value,  but  its  symmetrical  out- 
line, white  flowers  and  blue  berries  make  it  a  joy 
forever. 

The  story  of  chewing-gum  is  a  fascinating  tale. 
Its  botanical  name  is  chicle,  and  it  is  made  from 
the  life-blood  of  the  tropical  tree  Achras  sapota, 
an  inhabitant  of  northern  South  America,  Central 
America  and  certain  states  of  Mexico.  The  sapota 
is  a  versatile  tree,  for  besides  manufacturing  three 
to  five  billion  chews  of  gum  each  year  for  persons 
residing  in  all  parts  of  the  globe,  it  also  produces 


POMETTE  BLEUE.     Cratsegus  brachyacantha. 
This  tree  is  a  manufacturer  of  beauty  and  charm  for  its  less  lovely  neighbors. 


TREES  THAT  MANUFACTURE    115 

a  juicy  fruit  known  as  the  sapodilla  pear  and  a 
straight,  clear  timber  trunk. 

Chicle-gathering  natives  swarm  up  the  trees  in 
sap-flowing  time  and,  clinging  to  the  straight  trunks 
with  their  feet  and  with  ropes  encircling  their 
waists,  use  both  hands  to  hack  great  V-shaped  cuts 
with  their  machetes.  The  sap  flows  down  these 
furrows  to  little  receptacles  at  the  bottom  of  each. 
Collected  in  huge  pots,  it  looks  like  milk  at  first, 
but  soon  turns  yellow  and  thickens  to  the  con- 
sistency of  treacle.  The  last  vestige  of  water  is 
driven  out  by  boiling  and  kneading  and  the  dough- 
like  mass  is  ready  for  export.  At  the  northern  fac- 
tories the  long-suffering  jaw-actuator  is  further 
boiled  and  kneaded,  whirled  in  a  centrifugal  re- 
ceiver, "fussed  up"  with  powdered  sugar  and 
flavouring  matter,  rolled  into  sheets,  cut,  dried, 
wrapped,  advertised,  and  as  a  last  benediction  sent 
to  the  slot  machines. 

The  sapota  seems  to  be  a  full-blooded  creature, 
as  it  stands  moderate  bleeding  for  twenty-five 
years  or  more.  Eight  pounds  of  chicle  to  a  gallon 
of  sap  is  a  good  average  yield. 

We  could  manage  to  get  along  some  way 
without  chewing-gum,  but  tropical  rubber  has  be- 
come a  vital  and  intimate  part  of  temperate  zone 
civilisation.  If  it  is  true  that  we  never  miss  a  thing 


116  THE  HUMAN  SIDE  OF  TREES 

until  it  is  taken  away,  the  sudden  disappearance  of 
the  tree-product  caoutchouc  from  the  face  of  the 
earth  would  work  strange  havoc.  With  a  tire-less 
car  the  joys  of  automobiling  would  be  flown  for- 
ever. With  an  unrubberised  raincoat  and  no  feet 
protectors  London  would  become  uninhabitable. 
Without  rubber  insulation  to  work  with,  electrical 
engineering  would  be  set  back  ten  years.  Sans 
rubber  tubing  and  a  hundred  other  contrivances, 
the  medical  profession  would  be  at  a  complete 
standstill.  What  would  childhood  be  minus  rubber 
balls,  rubber  boots,  and  rubber  balloons?  What 
would  manhood  be  like  with  wooden  fountain  pens, 
steel  pencil  erasers,  and  paper  garters? 

In  a  sense  rubber  or  caoutchouc  might  be  con- 
sidered a  by-product,  as  the  various  tropical  trees 
from  which  it  comes  secrete  it  in  the  form  of  a 
milky  liquid  which  seems  to  be  non-vital  in  the 
life  of  the  manufacturer.  The  physical  structure 
of  this  juice  is  as  much  like  milk  as  it  looks. 
Minute  globules  of  rubber  constitute  the  cream. 
They  rise  to  the  top  and  can  be  skimmed  off.  The 
usual  way  is  to  boil  the  entire  liquid  down  until 
it  becomes  solid  enough  to  be  shaped  into  cakes. 
Recently  a  centrifugal  machine  which  in  operation 
is  much  like  a  cream  separator  has  been  introduced 
into  the  rubber  fields.  Much  has  been  written  about 


TREES  THAT  MANUFACTURE   117 

these  rubber  fields  of  Brazil  and  Bolivia  and  how 
man  in  his  rapacity  thoroughly  exploits  both  the  de- 
fenceless plant  and  his  own  weaker  brother.  The 
rubber-producing  trees  used  to  be  cut  down,  but 
now  considerations  of  economy  have  led  to  the  use 
of  a  series  of  circular  incisions  and  a  small  clay 
cup  to  catch  the  liquid  which  comes  from  each.  A 
tree  yields  anywhere  from  three  to  sixteen  pounds 
of  caoutchouc  annually.  It  is  believed  that  the 
caoutchouc  mistletoe  of  Venezuela  may  furnish  a 
new  source  of  rubber.  The  fruits  of  this  plant  con- 
tain the  much-sought  substance  in  solid  masses. 

The  bark  of  all  trees  contains  cork.  It  is  the 
growth  of  the  cork  which  determines  the  pattern 
of  the  corrugated  exterior.  In  the  cork  tree,  cork 
cells  are  particularly  and  exclusively  abundant,  so 
that  great  layers  sometimes  as  thick  as  twenty 
inches  may  be  removed  from  time  to  time  without 
endangering  the  tree's  life. 

One  would  hardly  expect  trees  to  engage  in  the 
liquor  business,  yet  there  is  ample  evidence  that 
they  do  distil  and  brew  on  occasion.  .We  have  al- 
ready mentioned  the  Mahwa  tree  blossom  of  India 
from  which  men  make  strong  drink.  There  are 
trees  which  make  their  own  "moonshine."  So 
proper  a  tree  as  the  common  cherry  has  been  known 
to  allow  its  fruit  to  ferment  so  viciously  that  whole 


118  THE  HUMAN  SIDE  OF  TREES 

troops  of  robins  have  been  put,  not  under  the  table, 
but  feet  up  in  the  grass  through  liberal  partakings 
of  the  alluring  fruit.  The  delicate  bodies  of 
birds  are  so  susceptible  to  such  excesses  that  certain 
neighbourhoods  at  times  have  been  almost  depopu- 
lated of  feathery  denizens  who  have  imbibed  too 
freely  and  were  destroyed  by  cats.  There  are  a 
number  of  small  tropical  trees,  such  as  the  wild 
mulberry,  that  distil  on  such  a  large  scale  that  birds, 
frogs,  and  regiments  of  monkeys  reel  about  on  the 
hilarity  of  its  freely-dispensed  beverage.  In  fact, 
monkeys  often  fall  into  the  hands  of  man  because 
of  their  drink-befuddled  condition. 

Some  men,  in  their  conceit,  really  believe  that  all 
the  products  of  nature,  including  trees,  were  cre- 
ated solely  to  satisfy  human  needs.  Nothing  could 
better  prove  the  absurdity  of  this  idea  than  the  fact 
that  there  are  many  appendages  manufactured  by 
trees  which  are  not  only  of  no  use  to  man  but  which 
are  absolutely  antagonistic  to  him.  Sharp 
branches,  and  thorn-bristling  twigs,  like  those  of 
the  hawthorn  and  the  acacia,  keep  him  at  arm's 
length.  The  giant  cactus  is  armed  from  top  to  bot- 
tom with  swords  and  daggers;  the  razor  tree  of 
South  America  is  covered  with  terrible  razors. 

Tree  caves  are  plant  creations  which,  with  some 
justification,  men  can  believe  were  created  for  their 


A  DOUBLED-THUNK  SPKCIMEN  OF  THE  USEFUL  AMERICAN  BAOBAB  TREE 


TAKING  CIGAR-BOX  CEDAR  OUT  OF  A  CUBAN  JUNGLE 


TREES  THAT  MANUFACTURE    119 

special  benefit.  Many  a  hopeless  suitor  or  hard- 
pressed  fugitive  has  delved  into  the  bounteous 
shelter  of  some  hollow  oak  just  in  the  nick  of  time. 
Regicides  and  other  types  of  patriotic  criminals 
have  lived  for  weeks  within  the  bodies  of  trees. 
Think  of  all  the  gold,  the  town-charters,  and  the 
love-letters  which  have  found  the  same  resting 
place ! 

Trees  are  very  faithful  parents;  they  build  vari- 
ous types  of  vehicles  to  send  their  offspring  out 
into  the  stream  of  life.  The  bladdernut  launches 
little  seed  boats  on  the  neighbouring  streams  in 
order  that  its  children  may  have  a  chance  to  make 
their  own  way  in  the  world,  and  sometimes  these 
tiny  boats  are  so  carefully  sealed  that  they  may 
be  used  as  submarines  and  the  tiny  seed-passengers 
may  dive  beneath  the  waves  in  safety.  The  ash, 
elm,  and  maple  have  tiny  wings  by  means  of  which 
their  children  ride  the  wind  out  into  the  big  world 
where  they  may  have  a  chance  to  properly  grow 
and  develop. 

In  the  tropics  is  found  a  most  unusual  plant 
known  as  the  cannon-ball  tree.  It  drops  its  im- 
mense fruit  with  a  hollow,  reverberating  thud  which 
sounds  like  the  falling  of  a  cannon-ball.  In  the 
stillness  of  a  jungle  at  night  these  reports  sound 


120  THE  HUMAN  SIDE  OF  TREES 

for  all  the  world  like  the  distant  sound  of  heavy 
artillery. 

Perhaps  strangest  and  most  dangerous  of  all  the 
tree-manufacturers  is  the  agy-tree.  This  uncanny 
inhabitant  of  the  Island  of  Madagascar  is  the  terror 
of  the  natives  and  missionaries  who  know  of  its 
miniature  arrows.  Mr.  Montgomery  in  describ- 
ing his  experiences  with  it  says:  "Walking  under 
some  trees  and  pushing  aside  the  reeds  and  grass, 
I  was  startled  in  a  moment  by  a  sudden  tingling 
and  pricking  sensation  over  the  back  of  my  hands 
and  fingers,  for  never  had  come  the  like  to  me,  in 
Madagascar  or  elsewhere.  I  stopped  in  sudden 
surprise,  for  the  pain  was  severe,  and  I  had  touched 
nothing  except  the  grass.  But  in  another  moment 
the  pain  increased,  the  tingling  burning  sensation 
seemed  extending  rapidly  up  my  wrists,  and  I  could 
see  nothing  to  cause  it.  But  as  I  lowered  my  head 
to  look,  pain,  scalding  pain,  shot  into  my  ears  and 
neck,  growing  worse,  too,  every  instant.  Dazed 
and  bewildered,  I  stood  a  few  seconds  in  helpless- 
ness, for  I  could  neither  see  nor  guess  at  the  cause 
of  the  terrible  distress.  Then  I  got  back  to  my 
company  with  agony  writ  plain  enough  on  every 
line  of  my  face. 

"The  men  started  up  when  they  saw  me,  some 
of  them  crying  out,  'You  have  been  stung  by  the 


TREES  THAT  MANUFACTURE    121 

agy !'  Some  of  them  led  me  to  a  seat,  others  rushed 
for  water  from  the  river,  and  two  or  three  brought 
sand  heaped  up  in  their  hands.  .  .  .  While  the 
men  were  rubbing  me  I  was  able  to  discern  to  some 
extent  the  cause  of  my  distress.  Countless  hairs, 
like  tiny  arrows,  almost  transparent,  pointed  at 
either  end,  and  from  a  third  to  a  fourth  of  an  inch 
long,  had  dropped  on  me  in  an  invisible  shower 
from  the  agy-tree  as  I  passed  and  stood  under  it. 
Ere  I  came  away  that  afternoon,  very  cautiously 
I  ventured  to  examine  the  tree  at  a  little  distance, 
and  found  that  these  tiny  hairs  grew  outside  a 
thickish  pod  or  shell,  not  quite  so  large  as  a  small 
banana." 

One  of  the  South  American  acacias  manufac- 
tures electricity  for  its  protection — or  more  prop- 
erly speaking,  it  is  an  electrical  dynamo.  On  touch- 
ing it,  one  receives  a  shock  so  distinct  that  he  is 
not  desirous  of  coming  nearer.  Scientists  are  now 
working  on  the  theory  that  certain  electrically*- 
charged  trees  exchange  electrical  or  magnetic  im- 
pulses through  the  air.  And  who  can  say  that  they 
have  not  a  means  of  sending  wireless  messages? 
Surely  such  phenomena  could  be  no  more  wonder- 
ful than  the  scientifically  recognised  work  of  tele- 
graph plants  and  weather-prophet  plants. 


IX 

TREES  THAT  TRAVEL 

BEFORE  the  modern  era  of  steam  and  elec- 
tricity the  history  of  man  was  largely  a  his- 
tory of  his  migrations.  When  his  house  stood  still, 
he  stood  still  mentally  and  physically.  When  he 
moved  about,  his  mind  grew  and  his  body  changed 
its  colour  and  its  conformation. 

The  same  is  true  of  the  trees.  When  they  are 
content  to  stay  quietly  at  home,  they  go  on  repro- 
ducing themselves  in  the  same  old  way  for  end- 
less generations.  As  soon  as  individuals  or  even 
extensive  groups  among  them  decide  to  travel  a 
bit  they  undergo  marvellous  changes  in  the  lands 
of  their  adoption.  The  tiny  dogwood,  scarcely 
six  inches  tall  in  Alaska,  becomes  a  sixty-foot  giant 
in  Texas  and  Florida.  In  the  far  North  the  honey 
locust  is  little  more  than  a  shrub.  On  reaching  the 
southern  United  States  or  Mexico  it  becomes  a 
medium-sized  tree,  wonderfully  defended  by  thorns 
and  prickles.  In  the  still  more  luxurious  climate 
of  South  America  it  develops  into  an  immense  struc- 

122 


TREES  THAT  TRAVEL  123 

ture  all  bristly  with  vegetable  spears  and  daggers 
and  with  a  defensive  army  of  ants.  The  trees  are 
great  believers  in  doing  as  the  Romans  do.  In 
taking  up  new  abodes  they  often  make  complete 
changes  of  clothing,  habits,  occupations  and  arma- 
ments. In  general,  they  are  more  prolific  in  the 
South. 

Moreover,  travelling  trees  are  not  merely  globe- 
trotters or  vegetable  hoboes.  They  travel  by  rule 
and  method,  and  their  knowledge  of  the  sciences  of 
chemistry  and  physics  is  astounding.  They  make 
geography  every  day.  Like  men,  some  trees  fol- 
low rule  and  method  more  than  others.  Such  trees 
as  the  pines,  ashes,  elms,  cottonwoods  and  syca- 
mores migrate  in  vast  armies  and,  like  the  bar- 
barian hordes  of  mediaeval  Europe,  overrun  the 
territories  of  neighbouring  kingdoms,  there  to  be 
swallowed  up  by  strongly  entrenched  first-comers, 
or  themselves  to  eventually  supplant  the  original 
inhabitants. 

It  must  not  be  imagined  that  these  tree  move- 
ments are  things  of  the  past.  Like  all  the  evolu- 
tionary processes  of  nature,  they  are  going  on  as 
much  to-day  as  they  ever  were.  Within  a  genera- 
tion the  wild  red  cherry  has  spread  from  the  east- 
ern to  the  western  United  States.  Botanists  who 
accompanied  early  government  exploring  expedi- 


124  THE  HUMAN  SIDE  OF  TREES 

tions  failed  to  find  any  specimens  of  this  tree  in 
Kansas  and  Nebraska,  states  where  it  is  now  quite 
common.  In  many  parts  of  the  country  second 
and  third  growth  trees  are  entirely  unrelated  to 
the  original  timber.  The  Catskill  Mountains  of 
New  York  when  first  visited  by  white  men  were 
largely  covered  by  spruce  and  hemlock.  Such  areas 
as  have  been  cut  over  have  nearly  always  been 
taken  possession  of  by  beech,  maple  and  birch.  Of 
late  years  it  has  been  noticed  that  poplars  and 
aspens  show  a  strong  disposition  to  grow  up  in 
abandoned  clearings.  By  noting  the  tree  species 
on  a  particular  piece  of  woodland,  a  person  familiar 
with  the  Catskills  can  usually  tell  whether  it  is 
first,  second  or  third  growth. 

This  is  a  striking  example  of  the  selective  power 
exhibited  by  the  trees  in  choosing  where  they  shall 
live.  Some  authorities  claim  that  the  trees  have  es- 
tablished a  natural  rotation  of  crops.  When  the 
pines  and  the  spruces  have  exhausted  the  surface 
soil  with  their  wide-spreading  roots  only  a  few 
feet  under  ground,  the  oak  comes  along  and,  with 
its  deep-travelling  nutriment-suckers,  taps  the 
lower-hidden  food  supplies.  By  the  time  the  sturdy 
acorn-bearer  has  become  old  and  grey  and  de- 
scended to  the  grave,  the  once  impoverished  sur- 
face-soil has  recouped  itself  with  many  generations 


TREES  THAT  TRAVEL  125 

of  leaves,  twigs  and  miscellaneous  dead  things  and 
is  quite  ready  to  take  on  a  new  batch  of  ever- 
greens. It  would  seem  that  this  theory  is  at  least 
somewhat  borne  out. 

Just  how  do  trees  travel?  It  would  be  a  mighty 
and  awe-inspiring  spectacle  to  see  some  great  for- 
est striding  across  the  country,  but  except  in  some 
such  cases  as  Macbeth's  Birnam  Wood,  this  has 
never  been  recorded  as  taking  place.  The  trees 
have  chosen  a  less  sensational  and  more  scientific 
method  of  locomotion.  They  prefer  to  travel  in 
embryo  and  by  means  of  tiny  fruits  and  seeds  light 
enough  to  fly  through  the  air  or  float  on  the  water, 
transport  future  forests  half  way  around  the  globe. 

To-day  it  is  possible  for  a  man  to  travel  on  land, 
on  water,  on  ice,  in  the  air  and  underground.  It 
has  taken  him  many  hundred  centuries  and  much 
cerebral  effort  to  perfect  these  accomplishments. 
The  trees  were  making  use  of  all  these  modes  of 
travel  when  man's  long-tailed  ancestors  were  just 
beginning  to  swing  in  their  branches.  Flyingv 
which  is  man's  weakest  and  latest  art,  is,  strangely 
enough,  the  trees'  favourite  transportation  device. 
They  have  invented  many  types  of  flying  machines, 
and  though  they  depend  on  the  wind  for  propul- 
sion, they  are  often  able  to  send  their  seeds  to 


126  THE  HUMAN  SIDE  OF  TREES 

greater  distances  than  man's  motor-driven  aero- 
planes have  ever  flown. 

All  summer  long  a  great  many  trees  devote  their 
principal  energy  to  maturing  their  seeds  and  pro- 
viding them  with  some  sort  of  flying  apparatus. 
Those  of  the  ash  have  paper-like  wings.  The  seeds 
of  the  elms  and  maples  are  equipped  with  mem- 
branes as  gauzy  and  delicate  as  those  of  a  dragon 
fly.  Willow,  poplar,  and  catalpa  seeds  are  attached 
to  tiny  balloons.  Hop  tree  seeds  have  to  be  satis- 
fied with  a  kite-like  appendage.  The  spruces,  firs, 
larches,  hemlocks,  pines  and  birches  produce  winged 
seeds,  with  a  large  number  coming  from  a  single 
pod.  The  alders,  tulips,  ashes  and  elms  send  forth 
winged  boxes — single  seeds  occupying  entirely  ma- 
tured pistils.  The  parachute-equipped  offspring 
of  the  pine  are  given  an  encouraging  push  into  the 
world  with  the  bursting  of  their  parent  cone.  The 
exploding  pods  of  the  wistaria  and  witch-hazel 
fairly  hurl  their  children  out  onto  the  breeze. 
Masses  of  beautifully  plumed  seeds  float  from  the 
willows  and  poplars. 

Next  to  the  wind,  the  trees  depend  upon  birds 
and  animals  in  getting  about  the  earth.  Strange 
to  say,  they  seem  to  prefer  to  ride  inside  rather  than 
on  the  backs  of  their  beasts  of  burden.  As  a  rule, 
only  the  lowlier  herbs  and  seeds  choose  the  outside 


TREES  THAT  TRAVEL  127 

seats,  and  by  burs  and  prickles  retain  a  precarious 
hold  on  bird  or  animal.  It  is  quite  evident  that  the 
spikes  of  the  chestnut  and  the  sharp  hairs  of  the 
beech  are  intended  more  for  protection  than  trans- 
portation. All  those  trees  which  bear  attractive 
and  luscious  fruit  are  contemplating  a  journey  in 
the  dark  but  safe  coach  of  crop  or  stomach.  Their 
colours  are  legion  and  very  brilliant  and  usually 
so  planned  as  to  contrast  strikingly  with  the  green 
foliage.  When  the  bird  or  animal  has  yielded  to 
the  allurement  of  rosy  skin  and  juicy  pulp,  the 
seed's  trip  is  begun  and  it  can  try  to  imagine  just 
where  its  unconsciously  obliging  vehicle  will  carry 
it.  The  embryo  trees  are  all  specially  equipped  for 
their  sojourn  in  their  host's  digestive  tract.  In  the 
orange  they  are  hard  and  bitter  and  have  a  gluti- 
nous coating  which  makes  them  slippery  and  sure 
of  being  swallowed  whole.  Plum,  peach,  and  cherry 
stones  have  coverings  hard  enough  to  defy  the 
strongest  teeth.  The  protection  in  apples  and 
pears  is  not  so  good,  though  the  tough  coating  is 
often  rejected  and  so  escapes  digestive  incarcera- 
tion entirely. 

Nuts  also  prefer  the  outside  route.  In  fact,  they 
have  everything  to  lose  by  being  eaten.  The  all- 
important  germ  of  life  is  contained  in  the  edible 
matter.  It  would  seem  to  be  a  case  of  nature  sac- 


128  THE  HUMAN  SIDE  OF  TREES 

rificing  the  many  for  the  good  of  the  few.  Squir- 
rels and  small  burrowing  animals  bury  thousands 
of  nuts  each  year  in  order  to  soften  their  hard 
shells.  When  this  is  accomplished  many  of  them 
are  eaten,  a  few  are  forgotten  and  so,  being  already 
planted,  grow  into  trees.  Large  numbers  of  wal- 
nuts, pecans,  chinquapins,  acorns,  and  hickory  nuts 
are  distributed  this  way.  Strange  as  it  may  seem, 
whole  persimmon  groves  are  sometimes  started 
near  a  hollow  tree  where  an  ambitious  opossum  has 
reared  a  family  and  scattered  the  seeds  around  his 
home.  A  hollow  at  the  foot  of  an  old  oak,  the  home 
of  many  squirrels,  often  sends  up  a  small  forest 
of  oak  shoots  from  buried  nuts. 

However,  it  must  be  admitted  that  animal-riding 
is  only  a  secondary  or  last  resort  locomotion  of  nuts. 
Their  plan  seems  to  be :  avoid  detection  if  you  can 
by  colouring  yourself  green  while  on  the  tree  and 
brown  while  on  the  ground.  Protect  yourself  with 
burs  and  bitter  rinds.  When  you  fall,  endeavour 
to  roll  down  hill  or  float  on  the  water.  If  you  are 
carried  away  by  an  animal,  you  travel  much  farther 
and  are  planted  gratis,  but  you  run  the  chance  of 
later  being  dug  up  and  eaten. 

The  unicorn  nut  is  one  of  the  few  enthusiastic 
animal  riders.  It  has  a  special  apparatus  for  at- 
taching itself  to  the  feet  of  animals.  Most  Amer- 


TREES  THAT  TRAVEL  129 

lean  nuts,  especially  those  like  the  hard-shell  wal- 
nuts, are  unfitted  for  long  journeys.  They  are 
unusually  rich  in  oil  which  easily  becomes  rancid. 
Even  when  buried,  they  are  more  liable  to  decay 
than  to  sprout. 

The  nuts  are  enthusiastic  sailors.  Not  a  few  are 
built  along  nautical  lines  and  when  dropped  into 
the  water  at  once  become  small  but  seaworthy  boats. 
The  cocoanut,  the  cashew  and  the  mahogany  all 
make  ocean  voyages.  Cocoanuts  are  covered  with 
a  thick  husk,  and  this  husk  has  a  waterproof  en- 
velope of  hairs.  As  they  float,  the  three  "eyes"  seem 
to  always  remain  on  top.  As  soon  as  the  nut  falls 
into  the  water  a  tiny  shoot  peeps  from  one  of  these 
eyes  and  sends  forth  big  leaves,  which  act  as  sails 
to  waft  the  craft  along.  Finally  roots  begin  to 
peep  forth  from  the  other  two  eyes  and  in  a  short 
time  this  lucky  passenger  with  sails  and  roots  is 
ready  to  land  on  an  island  and  start  to  developing 
into  a  genuine  cocoanut  tree.  The  cocoanut  is  such 
a  good  sea  traveller  that  it  has  planted  colonies  on 
almost  every  reef  in  the  warmer  waters.  However, 
the  cashew  excels  it  in  marine  equipment.  The 
cashew  has  a  double  hull  and  an  inner  skin.  Be- 
tween the  outer  and  the  inner  shells  circulates  a 
black,  waterproof  juice,  which  Maud  Going  aptly 
terms  "calking  between  decks."  The  bladdernut 


130  THE  HUMAN  SIDE  OF  TREES 

lacks  this  equipment  but  possesses  water-tight  com- 
partments which  have  no  bulkhead  doors  for  a  cap- 
tain to  remember  to  close.  There  are  other  nuts 
and  seeds  which  buoy  themselves  up  with  air-cham- 
bers and  oily  skins. 

It  is  quite  certain  that  these  tree-voyagers  make 
trips  quite  as  long  as  those  of  man.  The  Japanese 
black  currant  is  continually  landing  Asiatic  seeds  on 
the  shores  of  Oregon  and  Washington.  A  certain 
West  Indian  seed  of  large  dimensions  drifts  onto 
the  shores  of  the  Hebrides  quite  often.  All  these 
are  small  craft,  but  exceedingly  seaworthy. 

Even  the  frost-filled  wastes  of  the  frozen  North 
offer  no  barrier  to  the  tree-travellers.  Propelled 
by  the  strong  winds  of  such  regions,  trees  like  the 
honey  locust  send  tiny  ice-boats  scurrying  across 
the  frozen  landscape  at  a  mile-a-minute  speed, 
while  others  stick  to  the  slower  and  more  common 
air  route. 

While  it  is  true  that  trees  never  walk  across  the 
landscape  at  a  speed  which  is  visible  to  the  eye, 
they  do  by  the  slower  processes  of  growth  actually 
move  over  the  surface  of  the  earth.  Sometimes  they 
do  their  travelling  under  ground,  like  the  rubber  and 
persimmon  trees.  These  forest  denizens,  instead 
of  leaving  it  to  their  children  to  enjoy  the  advan- 
tages of  new  locations,  send  out  long  side  roots 


THE  MONKEY-BREAD  TREE  HAS  TRAVELLED  FROM  AUSTRALIA  TO  DWELL  AMONG 
THE  rOTOANTT  PALMS  OK  FLORIDA 


THE  HARDWOOD'S  HAVE  INVADED  VIRGINIAS  BLUE  RIDGE 


TREES  THAT  TRAVEL  131 

which  form  the  bases  from  which  new  trees  spring. 
If  the  old  section  dies  or  the  connection  is  severed, 
the  tree  may  be  said  to  have  literally  walked  the 
distance  separating  the  two. 

The  mangrove  does  the  same  thing  above  ground. 
Standing  knee-deep  in  the  water,  it  often  sends 
down  shoots  from  its  arms,  which,  taking  root,  are 
the  beginnings  of  a  new  tree.  The  willow  ac- 
complishes the  same  thing  by  bending  over  until 
one  of  its  branches  takes  root.  Frequently  all  of 
the  energy  of  the  tree  is  devoted  to  the  freshly 
started  sapling,  so  that  the  old  trunk  at  length 
withers  and  dies.  But  the  tree  lives  on  new  and 
fresh,  removed  to  the  lot  next  door.  It  is  said  that 
a  freshly  felled  willow,  if  used  to  bridge  a  small 
stream,  will  grow  into  the  banks  at  either  end 
and  make  the  structure  particularly  secure. 

Full-grown,  mature  trees  may  not  actually  walk 
across  the  landscape,  but  they  do  swim.  There  are 
many  records  of  floating  islands  which  not  only 
make  voyages  up  and  down  rivers  but  occasionally 
embark  on  ocean  trips.  At  the  mouth  of  the  Ama- 
zon River  sections  of  land  frequently  break  off 
and  float  serenely  out  to  sea.  Needless  to  say,  many 
of  these  adventurers  succumb  to  the  fury  of  the 
waves'  bombardment,  but  there  have  been  observed 
instances  when  they  reached  port  safely.  Nautical 


132   THE  HUMAN  SIDE  OF  TREES 

movements  on  inland  waters  are  more  apt  to  be 
successful.  The  trees  which  grow  on  such  floating 
islands  may  be  said  to  travel  in  the  most  literal 
sense  of  the  word. 

The  trees  travel  a  little  slowly,  and  uncertainly, 
from  our  way  of  thinking,  but  they  get  there  just 
the  same.  Most  of  man's  travelling  is  done  by  defy- 
ing and  subjugating  the  forces  of  the  universe.  The 
trees  seem  to  have  a  better  understanding  with  the 
laws  of  nature;  they  put  themselves  in  her  power 
and  accept  her  decree  as  to  where  they  shall  go. 


X 

MUSICS  TREES 

Yon  breezy  pine,  whose  foliage  shades  the  springs. 
In  many  a  vocal  whisper  sweetly  sings. 

— THEOCRITUS. 

r  I  iQ  the  lover  of  nature  the  sounds  of  the  moun- 
A  tains  and  the  forests  are  notes  in  the  greatest 
symphony  ever  written.  What  the  ordinary  man 
speaks  of  as  buzzing  bees,  running  water,  singing 
rocks,  murmuring  pines,  or  rustling  leaves,  the  out- 
door connoisseur  recognises  as  different  instruments 
in  the  great  orchestra  of  the  infinite.  To  him  every 
mood  of  nature  has  its  individual  song.  Even  dif- 
ferent spots  have  their  regular  musical  tones  to  be 
scientifically  identified  with  a  tuning-fork. 

Such  a  man's  only  regret  is  that  his  perceptive 
powers  are  so  limited.  When  he  thinks  of  all  the 
natural  noises  produced  every  day  which  are  either 
too  slow  or  too  fast  in  vibration  for  his  rough  ears 
to  hear;  when  he  realises  the  hundreds  of  musical 
intervals  between  A  and  B  which  his  limited  facul- 
ties cannot  distinguish,  he  is  eager  to  more  thor- 

133 


134  THE  HUMAN  SIDE  OF  TREES 

oughly  appreciate  all  the  good  things  he  can  hear. 

Every  day  in  every  forest  a  free  concert  is  in 
progress.  There  are  no  chairs  and  no  programmes 
(and  unfortunately  often  no  audience),  but  music 
of  a  divine  order  is  in  the  air.  The  repertoire 
ranges  all  the  way  from  the  crescendos  of  the  tem- 
pest to  the  lento  sostenutos  of  a  summer's  after- 
noon. Overtures,  anthems,  masses  and  requiems 
all  have  their  turn.  Every  twig  and  leaf  rustles 
a  glad  accompaniment. 

The  running  brook  sings  in  all  voices  from  a 
piping  treble  to  a  tolerably  deep  bass.  The  rain 
pelts  melodiously  on  the  dry  leaves.  Insects,  birds 
and  animals  make  their  harmonious  contributions. 
The  wind  and  the  trees  play  an  entire  symphony 
by  themselves. 

But  it  is  the  musical  efforts  of  the  trees  in  which 
we  are  most  interested.  Very  few  of  them  are  self- 
playing.  They  are  mostly  docile  instruments  in 
the  powerful  hands  of  the  wind-god.  Each  has  its 
range  and  its  tone.  The  musical  possibilities  of 
each  vary  with  the  seasons.  Ordinarily,  the  music 
of  the  trees  is  soft  and  caressing,  but  there  are  times 
when  they  are  called  upon  to  wrestle  with  the 
tempest.  Under  the  cruel  lashings  of  an  aroused 
element,  their  song  rises  into  an  inferno  of  wail- 
ing. Nothing  strikes  terror  to  human  hearts 


MUSICAL  TREES  135 

quicker  than  when  the  trees  shriek  their  plaint  into 
the  night  air.  The  boughs  creak  and  roar  like 
frightened  animals,  and  twigs  snap  like  over- 
strained strings,  while  the  leaves  howl  dismally. 
Melody  is  transformed  into  chaos. 

Dr.  Hartwig  in  describing  a  storm  in  a  forest 
says:  "A  hurricane  bursting  over  the  primeval 
forest  is  one  of  the  most  terrific  scenes  of  nature. 
A  hollow  uproar  in  the  higher  regions  of  the  air, 
as  if  the  wild  huntsman  of  the  German  legends 
were  sweeping  along  with  his  whole  pack  of  phan- 
tom hounds,  precedes  the  explosion  of  the  storm, 
while  the  lower  atmosphere  still  lies  in  deep  re- 
pose. The  roaring  and  rushing  descend  lower  and 
lower ;  the  higher  branches  of  the  trees  strike  wildly 
against  each  other;  the  forked  lightning  flashes 
through  the  night-like  darkness;  the  thunder,  re- 
peated by  a  hundred  echoes,  rolls  through  the 
thicket;  and  trees,  uprooted  by  the  fury  of  the 
storm,  fall  with  a  loud  crash,  bearing  down  every 
stem  of  minor  growth  in  their  sweeping  ruin.  The 
bowlings  and  wailings  of  terrified  animals  accom- 
pany the  wild  sounds  of  the  tempest." 

Under  such  conditions,  it  is  hard  to  distinguish 
the  notes  of  the  individual  singers.  A  gentle  breeze 
is  better  calculated  to  bring  out  their  vocal  accom- 
plishments. The  pines  are  very  noticeable  for  the 


136  THE  HUMAN  SIDE  OF  TREES 

exceptional  quality  of  their  music.  Like  miniature 
harps  and  guitars,  their  myriad  needles  tinkle  with 
the  slightest  motion  of  the  air.  The  gentle  whisper 
of  their  orchestration  may  be  heard  on  all  but  the 
very  calmest  of  days.  In  a  stiff  breeze,  the  pine 
needles  become  the  reeds  of  a  mighty  pipe-organ. 
In  a  storm  they  give  forth  a  thunderous  moan.  It 
has  been  noticed  that  wood  doves  and  pigeons  de- 
light in  the  music  of  the  pines. 

Another  small-leaved  tree  which  produces  deli- 
cate, voice-like  music  is  the  oleander.  In  Galves- 
ton,  Texas,  the  "Oleander  City,"  under  the  influ- 
ence of  the  breezes  from  the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  they 
play  and  sing  all  night.  The  trembling  aspen  and 
most  poplars  produce  a  clear  tinkling  which  sounds 
a  great  deal  like  bells  in  the  distance.  The  weeping 
willow,  on  which  the  captive  Jews  hung  their  harps 
in  Babylon,  sighs  and  moans  afresh  for  Israel  in 
every  summer  zephyr.  Oaks  and  black  gums  are 
rather  melancholy  trees,  often  caught  with  a  pe- 
culiar sigh  on  their  leaves. 

When  the  giant  redwoods  of  California  wrestle 
with  the  storm-wind,  they  roar  and  bellow  like  a 
herd  of  enraged  elephants.  The  cedars,  caught 
in  the  vortex  of  a  gale,  whistle  with  the  note  of  a 
high-powered  wireless  transmitter.  The  mangrove 
produces  a  grunting  sound  when  the  wind  plays 


.^imi^iF.-     -x 


THE  GIANT  DOUGLAS  FIR  AND  RED  CEDAR  COMBINE  TO  FORM  A  MIGHTY  PIPE- 
ORGAN 


THESE  CONIFERS  CATCH  WHISPERINGS  FROM  OFF  THE  RIVER 


MUSICAL  TREES  137 

on  its  aerial  roots.  The  branches  of  elms  and 
maples  flop  and  snap  with  the  noise  of  a  hundred 
kettle  drums,  while  the  cottonwood  gives  forth  a 
weak  hissing  sound. 

Large-leaved  trees,  like  the  tropical  palms,  have 
the  regular  place  of  drummer  assigned  to  them  in 
all  weather.  Their  heavily  moving  leaves  give  a 
very  good  imitation  of  the  weird  effects  produced 
by  a  human  master  of  the  traps.  To  the  banana 
is  given  the  role  of  bass  drummer.  These  creatures, 
which  are  practically  all  leaf,  flop  their  huge  sec- 
tions about  with  thunderous  effect.  Our  northern 
hickory  is  another  tree  which  likes  to  rattle. 

The  trees  are  not  altogether  dependent  upon 
their  leaves  for  their  music.  Not  a  few  play  their 
most  alluring  compositions  in  the  autumn  and  win- 
ter seasons  when  the  leaves  are  on  the  ground.  The 
tulip  tree  is  a  frequent  late  autumn  performer. 
When  its  seed  pods  burst  open  they  disclose  thou- 
sands of  tiny,  circular  instruments  upon  which  the 
wind  plays  the  most  weird  and  enchanting  music. 
The  winter  music  of  the  Chinese  umbrella  tree  is 
a  melodious  laugh,  so  imitative  of  the  sign  of  human 
mirth  as  to  earn  for  the  player  the  name  of  "laugh- 
ing tree."  There  is  a  certain  simplicity  and  direct- 
ness of  theme  about  winter  tree  music  which  the 


138   THE  HUMAN  SIDE  OF  TREES 

confused  rustling  of  leaves  often  prevents  in  the 
summertime. 

It  is  perfectly  possible  to  recognise  a  tree  by  its 
musical  notes,  though  varying  factors  make  a  large 
amount  of  practice  and  ear-training  necessary.  The 
tone  of  a  tree  depends  on  its  size,  height  and  loca- 
tion, that  is,  whether  it  is  acting  as  a  soloist  or  as 
a  unit  in  a  vast  orchestra.  For  all  that,  sounds  pro- 
duced by  different  varieties  under  ordinary  condi- 
tions are  strikingly  dissimilar.  One  would  never 
mistake  the  murmuring  of  the  pine  for  the  dismal 
howling  of  the  catalpa,  nor  the  whinnying  of  the 
sassafras  for  the  hissing  of  the  osage  orange. 

Men  and  women  who  cannot  sing,  or  play  upon 
some  stringed  instrument,  are  very  apt  to  seek  the 
services  of  those  who  can.  It  is  not  stretching  the 
comparison  too  much  to  say  that  the  trees  do  the 
same  thing.  So  fond  are  they  of  bird  and  insect 
music  that  they  often  entertain  and  protect  their 
winged  songsters  even  when  their  own  musical  abili- 
ties are  not  undeveloped.  Instead  of  the  choirs 
of  human  cities,  the  cottonwoods  of  the  tree  cities 
house  and  shelter  hundreds  of  song  birds.  Instead 
of  piano-players,  the  elms  employ  tree  frogs.  With 
the  ash,  katydids  and  crickets  take  the  place  of 
stringed  quartets. 

Besides  the  sylvan  musicians  who  actually  make 


MUSICAL  TREES  139 

their  homes  in  the  trees,  there  are  in  every  forest 
myriads  of  humble  dwellers  in  moss  and  grass  who 
have  their  individual  little  songs  to  sing — tiny  con- 
tributions to  the  great  symphony  of  the  great  out- 
doors. 

In  the  tree  world  music  undoubtedly  reaches  its 
highest  development  among  the  birds.  Though 
some  of  their  songs  are  short  in  range  and  variety, 
they  are  often  indescribably  sweet  and  almost  al- 
ways in  perfect  keeping  with  their  surroundings. 
The  mocking  bird  has  no  rival,  and  he  sings  both 
day  and  night.  In  the  forest  most  birds  welcome 
the  glad  beginning  of  each  morning  with  a  burst 
of  melody,  quiet  down  during  the  heat  and  drowsi- 
ness of  midday  and  later  indulge  again  in  their 
evening  song.  In  the  lull  just  preceding  a  storm 
the  cry  of  the  white-throated  sparrow  may  often 
be  heard.  It  utters  a  half-dozen  sweet,  plaintive 
notes  which  are  exquisitely  interpretative  of  the 
hour.  When  watching  a  storm  from  the  shore  of 
a  lake  one  can  often  hear  the  demonic  laughter  of 
the  loon  high  above  the  howling  wind.  Like  a  kite 
above  the  water  it  soars,  in  very  shape  and  embodi- 
ment the  spirit  of  the  gale.  In  the  quiet  coolness 
of  a  summer  evening  what  is  more  in  harmony  than 
the  liquid  notes  of  the  thrush? 

Everywhere  one  goes  in  a  forest  he  finds  myriads 


140  THE  HUMAN  SIDE  OF  TREES 

of  tiny  insect  musicians ;  bees,  wasps,  hornets,  flies, 
beetles,  and  even  mosquitoes — all  these  are  truly 
musicians.  The  honey  locust  tree  keeps  a  small 
musician,  the  cicada.  So  skilled  is  he  in  producing 
music  that  the  old  Greeks  often  caged  him  for  his 
song. 

We  see  that  trees  as  well  as  all  other  beings  are 
fond  of  music.  Their  intonations  and  modulations 
do  a  great  deal  for  the  man  who  is  travelling 
through  the  wild.  They  beautify  and  spiritualise 
his  thoughts.  They  lift  him  for  a  little  while  to 
higher  planes  where  he  may  contemplate  the  bet- 
ter things  of  life. 


XI 

HISTORIC  TEEES 

"Wise  with  the  lore  of  centuries,  what  tales,  if  there  mere 
tongues  in  trees,  that  giant  oak  could  tell." 

IN  the  little  village  of  Santa  Maria  del  Tule, 
Oaxaca,  Mexico,  stands  an  aged  and  decrepit 
cypress  tree.  It  occupies  a  place  of  honour  in  the 
central  square  and  is  carefully  fenced  against  van- 
dalism. The  people  of  the  village  and  surrounding 
country  hold  it  in  the  greatest  awe  and  veneration. 
They  claim  that  it  is  the  oldest  living  thing  in  all 
the  world  and  scientists  qualified  to  judge  are  in- 
clined to  agree. 

There  are  so  many  trees  on  this  round  earth  of 
ours  and  their  records  are  so  obscure  and  conflict- 
ing that  the  task  of  picking  out  the  very  oldest  is 
more  than  Herculean.  The  more  conservative  ex- 
perts are  content  to  say  that  this  cypress  at  Oaxaca 
is  exceedingly  ripe  in  years  and  certainly  in  the 
very  front  rank  of  candidates  for  the  first  honour. 
Others  are  quite  convinced  that  no  other  living  tree 
can  present  greater  evidences  of  antiquity.  The 

141 


142   THE  HUMAN  SIDE  OF  TREES 

layman  is  sufficiently  impressed  by  reflecting  that 
this  vegetable  growth  has  existed  as  a  single  life 
ever  since  the  dawning  of  history. 

Every  one  agrees  that  the  hoary  monarch  first 
burst  through  its  seed  walls  somewhere  between 
five  and  six  thousand  years  ago,  which  would  make 
it  contemporaneous  with  the  first  records  of  civi- 
lised man.  When  the  Egyptian  Cheops  was  piling 
the  great  pyramid  up  toward  heaven  this  anti- 
quarian had  developed  into  a  vigorous  sapling. 
When  the  Israelites  fled  the  bondage  of  the  Nile 
for  the  valleys  of  Canaan,  it  had  doubtless  attained 
its  full  height  and  put  several  centuries  behind  it. 
All  through  the  rise  and  fall  of  the  great  Greek 
and  Roman  epochs,  all  through  the  obscure  years 
of  the  Middle  Ages,  all  through  the  vicissitudes  of 
so-called  modern  history,  the  cypress  has  lived  out 
its  placid  existence,  faithfully  adding  a  new  ring 
of  wood  to  its  increasing  girth  each  year,  until  to- 
day one  has  to  run  the  surveyor's  tape  out  for  one 
hundred  and  twenty-six  feet  to  encircle  its  trunk  at 
a  point  four  feet  above  the  ground.  Recent  visi- 
tors state  that  the  wooden  tablet  which  Humboldt 
nailed  to  the  trunk  when  he  discovered  the  tree  in 
1803  is  still  intact,  though  half  covered  with  bark 
and  with  its  inscription  well-nigh  obliterated. 

Another  tree  of  extreme  age,  which  has  the  added 


HISTORIC  TREES  143 

distinction  of  being  regarded  by  many  as  the 
world's  largest  tree,  is  situated  in  the  Valley  of 
Aragua  in  Venezuela.  It  is  called  the  Zamang 
de  Guerro,  after  Christopher  Guerro,  who  discov- 
ered it  during  the  sixteenth  century.  It  was  visited 
by  Humboldt  about  1800  and  made  famous  by  him 
throughout  the  world.  It  is  said  that  its  far-reach- 
ing branches  form  a  circumference  measuring  five 
hundred  and  sixty-one  feet.  It  is  made  very  beau- 
tiful by  the  orchids  and  other  tropical  parasites 
which  hang  from  its  boughs. 

It  should  not  be  imagined  that  these  two  trees 
are  examples  of  a  caprice  of  nature  which  occasion- 
ally allows  isolated  specimens  to  grow  for  many 
centuries  beyond  their  allotted  time.  While  the 
average  life  of  the  common  trees  of  our  streets 
and  gardens  is  not  greatly  in  excess  of  that  of  a 
human  being,  there  are  whole  races  of  trees  which, 
like  the  man-giants  of  old,  live  for  incredible  periods 
of  time. 

There  are  hundreds  of  sequoia  and  redwood  trees 
in  California  which  are  between  three  and  four 
thousand  years  old.  Almost  all  pf  them  which  have 
been  cut  down  show  wood  which  is  remarkably 
hard  and  free  from  decay,  indicating  that  the 
species  may  live  to  double  their  present  age  if  given 
the  opportunity.  Furthermore,  it  is  claimed  that 


144   THE  HUMAN  SIDE  OF  TREES 

there  are  junipers  in  Oregon  with  an  estimated  age 
of  six  to  eight  thousand  years.  If  this  is  true,  the 
junipers  have  not  been  receiving  proper  credit  as 
long  livers,  and  the  honour  of  sheltering  the  oldest 
tree  may  go  to  the  United  States  rather  than  Mex- 
ico, after  all. 

Another  long-living  tree  race  is  the  yew,  which 
exists  from  1200  to  2800  years;  the  olives  live  from 
700  to  2000  years;  the  oaks,  from  600  to  1400,  and 
the  walnuts  from  900  to  1000  years.  How  insig- 
nificant are  our  lives  compared  to  these!  Such 
figures  represent  averages  and  do  not  take  into 
account  especially  hardy  and  well-favoured  indi- 
viduals which  sometimes  live  to  almost  double  their 
"four-score  years  and  ten." 

If  we  only  understood  the  language  of  the  trees 
better,  what  a  revision  of  history  there  would  be! 
There  are  in  existence  to-day  different  trees  which 
began  their  lives  in  all  the  correspondingly  different 
periods  in  the  biography  of  man.  If  each  one  had 
taken  particular  notice  of  the  customs  and  events 
of  the  time  in  which  it  was  born  and  then  was  able 
to  communicate  these  impressions  to  men,  the  result 
would  be  a  contemporary  living  history  of  civilisa- 
tion. Each  tree  would  be  an  authority  and,  instead 
of  searching  in  ponderous  tomes  to  discover  whether 
Charles  II  of  England  spoke  in  a  deep  bass  or  a 


HISTORIC  TREES  145 

high  treble,  we  should  cable  to  the  Royal  Oak  at 
Donnington  in  Shropshire  which  sheltered  him  and 
listened  to  his  hysterical  lamentations  after  his  de- 
feat by  Cromwell  at  the  Battle  of  Worcester.  An 
eye-witness  for  every  event  in  the  world's  history! 
What  a  millennium  for  truth  and  veracity! 

Next  to  the  buildings  of  men,  trees  are  the  most 
historic  things  in  existence.  All  over  the  world 
are  venerable  forest  monarchs  which  men  honour 
and  reverence  as  being  associated  with  some  great 
man  or  event.  England,  especially,  is  unusually 
rich  in  historic  trees.  There  almost  every  feudal 
estate  boasts  of  one  or  more  of  glorious  memory. 
Among  the  most  famous  is  the  King's  Oak  at 
Woodstock.  It  is  situated  on  the  former  hunting 
lodge  of  Henry  II,  where  that  ruler  spent  many 
happy  hours  with  his  favourite  Rosamond.  It 
bears  the  added  distinction  of  having  been  asso- 
ciated with  King  Alfred,  the  Black  Prince,  Chau- 
cer and  Charles  II. 

There  is  a  pretty  story  connected  with  an  oak 
on  the  grounds  of  Hatfield  House,  the  ancient 
manor  of  the  Cecils  on  the  River  Lea.  It  was  un- 
der this  gnarled  giant  that  Elizabeth  was  seated 
when  she  first  heard  of  the  death  of  her  sister, 
Bloody  Queen  Mary,  and  her  own  accession  to  the 
throne.  It  is  related  that  she  was  reading  the  Greek 


146   THE  HUMAN  SIDE  OF  TREES 

Testament  at  the  time,  doubtless  seeking  consola- 
tion for  her  virtual  imprisonment  at  Hatfield.  As 
she  read,  a  courier  on  horseback  approached  along 
the  London  road.  Catching  sight  of  the  Princess, 
he  quit  the  course  which  was  taking  him  toward  the 
castle  and,  running  to  Elizabeth,  acquainted  her 
with  the  portentous  news.  It  is  not  stated  whether 
the  Virgin  Queen  wept  or  solicited  congratulations. 
Only  the  oak  knows — and  a  tree  tells  no  secrets. 

Another  of  England's  trees  of  note  is  the  1500- 
year-old  Major  Oak  in  Sherwood  Forest,  which  is 
said  to  have  been  the  favourite  rendezvous  of 
Robin  Hood  and  his  merry  men.  Then  there  is 
the  Parliament  Oak  of  Clipstone  Park  where  Ed- 
ward I  is  alleged  to  have  once  convened  a  national 
assembly.  In  reading  of  Britain's  famous  trees, 
the  predominance  of  the  oak  is  very  noticeable. 
This  is  doubtless  due  to  the  very  abundance  of 
the  species  and  the  special  reverence  with  which 
the  worship  of  the  Druids  endowed  them. 

The  history  of  America  is  short  in  time  but 
mighty  in  deed.  It  also  has  had  its  noteworthy 
trees,  but,  in  most  cases,  it  has  been  unfortunate 
enough  to  choose  trees  of  the  non-enduring  kind  or 
has  failed  to  develop  enough  historic  sense  to  take 
adequate  steps  for  their  preservation. 

The  Washington  Elm  of  Cambridge,  Mass.,  is 


HISTORIC  TREES  147 

practically  the  sole  survivor  of  a  number  of  vener- 
able trees  associated  with  events  of  national  im- 
portance wrought  in  the  infant  days  of  the  Re- 
public. And  now  in  these  last  days  arise  experts 
who  even  question  the  absolute  authenticity  of  that 
monument's  claim  to  fame! 

Be  that  as  it  may,  most  Americans  are  content 
to  believe  that  on  July  3,  1775,  General  George 
Washington  assumed  supreme  command  of  the 
armies  of  the  rebelling  colonies  under  the  shadow 
of  the  failing  but  still  grand  old  elm  which  occu- 
pies a  prominent  place  in  the  city  by  the  Charles. 
Let  us  honour  it  while  it  is  still  with  us.  There 
are  indications  that  its  days  are  numbered.  Al- 
ready the  expert  care  of  Professor  Sargent  of  the 
Arnold  Arboretum  has  prolonged  its  life  many 
years.  There  is  excellent  reason  to  believe  that 
Washington's  Tree  deserves  further  reverence  as 
a  pulpit  from  which  George  Whitefield  at  one  time 
preached  when  excluded  from  New  England  towns 
and  colleges  in  1744. 

On  August  21,  1856,  a  light  gale  blew  down  a 
stately  2000-year-old  oak  near  Hartford,  Conn. 
The  next  day  a  whole  city  mourned  around  its 
prostrate  trunk  and,  under  official  direction,  con- 
verted every  scrap  of  its  wood  into  sentimental 
mementos.  This  was  the  tree  which  for  one  hun- 


148   THE  HUMAN  SIDE  OF  TREES 

dred  and  sixty-nine  years  had  been  hailed  as  the 
preserver  of  the  liberties  of  the  Colony  of  Con- 
necticut and  as  the  ''Charter  Oak"  had  attained 
country-wide  prominence.  The  story  is  contained 
in  every  school  boy's  history-book,  but  possibly  we 
can  enliven  it  with  fresh  piquancy  by  imagining 
that  the  tree  related  the  tale  with  its  own  leaves 
a  year  or  so  before  its  death. 

It  waved  its  upper  branches  a  little  grandly  as 
it  began.  "For  many  months  in  the  year  1687  I 
was  all  that  stood  between  the  people  of  Con- 
necticut and  tyranny.  On  October  31st  of  that  fall 
one  Edmund  Andross  appeared  before  the  colonial 
assembly  at  Hartford  and  demanded  that  it  sur- 
render to  him  its  royal  charter.  He  spoke  as  the 
governor-general  of  all  New  England,  having  been 
just  sent  out  from  the  mother  country  in  that  ex- 
alted capacity  by  the  recently  crowned  James  II. 
He  had  been  ordered  to  confiscate  all  charters  here- 
tofore granted  and  to  rule  only  as  the  King  de- 
creed. 

"The  assembly  received  Governor  Andross 
courteously,  even  aimably,  and  settled  down  to  dis- 
cuss the  matter.  So  well  did  they  argue  that  the 
conference  ran  on  into  the  evening  and  the  time 
for  the  lighting  of  candles.  When  it  had  become 
quite  dark  the  lights  were  suddenly  extinguished 


HISTORIC  TREES  149 

by  prearranged  signal  and  in  the  resulting  confu- 
sion the  charter  was  deftly  borne  away  by  a  patriot 
named  Wadsworth.  In  vain  did  Andross  storm, 
declare  the  assembly  dissolved,  write  Finis  on 
its  journal  and  order  his  soldiers  to  seize  its  records. 
The  charter  had  been  carefully  hidden  in  a  large 
cavity  near  my  roots,  and  when,  in  a  few  months, 
James  II  was  driven  from  the  English  throne  and 
Andross  from  New  England  the  colonists  relieved 
me  of  my  charge.  English  jurists  decided  that  as 
the  charter  had  never  been  yielded  up  it  was  still 
in  effect.  Thus  was  Connecticut  liberty  preserved 
for  sixty-nine  additional  years,  when  intolerable 
injustices  in  other  directions  made  concerted  revolt 
by  all  the  colonies  necessary. 

"Soon  after  my  important  duty  had  been  per- 
formed, the  entrance  to  the  hole  which  had  held 
the  precious  document  began  to  close  up,  as  if  to 
indicate  that  its  mission  was  ended.  You  can  see 
that  now  only  a  slight  crevice  is  left." 

And  having  finished  its  narrative,  this  remark- 
able tree  dropped  its  leaves  in  a  silence  from  which 
the  most  excited  questioning  could  not  arouse  it. 

Up  to  1810  there  existed  at  Shackamaxon,  Penn- 
sylvania, now  the  Kensington  section  of  Philadel- 
phia, a  superb  elm  known  as  the  "Treaty  Tree." 
It  was  memorable  as  the  place  where  William  Penn 


150  THE  HUMAN  SIDE  OF  TREES 

in  1682  concluded  his  famous  treaty  with  the  In- 
dians. This  noble  Quaker  was  the  first  European 
to  carry  out  in  his  dealings  with  the  red  men  the 
doctrine  of  brotherly  love.  They  were  so  impressed 
that  they  never  broke  the  verbal  oaths  made  under 
the  Treaty  Tree  at  that  time.  The  monument  to 
the  pact  was  felled  by  a  storm  in  1810,  aged  two 
hundred  and  eighty-three  years  and  measuring 
twenty-four  feet  in  girth. 

Down  on  King's  Mountain,  South  Carolina, 
there  used  to  be  (and  possibly  may  be  yet)  a  splen- 
did specimen  of  the  tulip  tree  with  which  is  con- 
nected a  gruesome  tale.  Near  the  spot,  in  October, 
1780,  a  force  of  South  Carolina  revolutionists  (or 
Republicans,  as  they  were  called  in  the  South),  un- 
der the  command  of  Cleveland,  Shelby,  Campbell, 
Sevier  and  McDowell,  defeated  one  thousand  Tories 
led  by  Major  Ferguson  of  Cornwallis'  staff.  The 
past  crimes  and  acts  of  wanton  destruction  com- 
mitted by  some  of  the  captured  royalists  had  been 
so  disgraceful  that  they  were  condemned  to  imme- 
diate death  by  court-martial.  A  large  tulip  tree 
on  the  bank  of  a  nearby  brook  was  selected  as  the 
scene  of  execution.  To  its  green  boughs  ten  of  the 
prisoners  were  hung,  giving  it  an  immortal  but  un- 
enviable fame. 

One  day  in  1849  some  obscure  farmer  near 


HISTORIC  TREES  151 

Charleston,  S.  C.,  discovered  that  he  needed  fire- 
wood and  with  ruthless  hand  chopped  down  a  mag- 
nificent magnolia  tree  just  outside  his  door.  He 
thereby  lost  for  the  community  an  interesting  relic 
of  the  British  siege  of  Charleston  in  1780.  On 
April  21st  of  that  year  the  American  General, 
Lincoln,  held  a  council  of  war  beneath  its  flower- 
laden  branches.  He  told  his  officers  and  represen- 
tative towns-people  that  the  enemy  had  just  been 
reinforced  with  3000  troops  from  New  York  and 
further  resistance  seemed  hopeless.  He  counselled 
the  immediate  retreat  of  the  American  forces,  but 
at  the  earnest  pleadings  of  the  worried  Charles- 
tonians  finally  agreed  to  stay.  Three  weeks  later 
he  was  forced  to  surrender.  The  tree  under  which 
the  meeting  was  held  was  known  thereafter  as  the 
Magnolia  Council  Tree. 

In  the  days  just  preceding  the  Revolution  a  num- 
ber of  New  England  towns  had  their  "Liberty 
Trees."  These  were  usually  elms  and  were  used 
as  rallying-points  for  speeches  and  burnings  in 
effigy.  Boston  had  a  fine  one  at  Washington  and 
Essex  Streets.  The  one  at  Providence  was  espe- 
cially large. 

For  many  years  visitors  to  Haverstraw,  New 
York,  were  taken  a  few  miles  out  into  the  country 
to  see  the  black  oak  under  which  "Mad"  Anthony 


152   THE  HUMAN  SIDE  OF  TREES 

Wayne  mustered  his  men  in  preparation  for  his 
brilliant  capture  of  Stony  Point.  This  was  the 
same  general  who  once  told  Washington  that  he 
would  storm  hell  itself  if  the  chief  would  draw  the 
plans.  In  a  later  day  Vicksburg  and  Appomattox, 
where  General  Grant  received  the  swords  of  Pem« 
berton  and  Lee  respectively,  each  had  its  surrender- 
tree. 

On  the  estate  of  General  Villeve,  a  few  miles 
below  New  Orleans,  there  used  to  be  a  leafless  pecan 
tree  to  which  was  attached  a  blood-curdling  story. 
After  the  battle  of  New  Orleans,  January  8,  1815, 
the  British  loss  was  found  to  include  General  Pack- 
enham,  commander;  General  Gibbs  and  Colonels 
Dale  and  Rennie.  It  was  decided  to  ship  the  bodies 
of  all  these  men  to  England,  preserved  in  casks  of 
rum.  Part  of  the  preparation  consisted  in  remov- 
ing the  internal  organs,  which  were  promptly 
buried.  The  viscera  of  General  Packenham  were 
interred  under  the  pecan  tree  already  mentioned. 
It  is  solemnly  averred  that  the  sympathetic  nut- 
bearer  dropped  its  leaves  at  once  and  superstitious 
negroes  for  decades  pointed  to  blood  stains  on  the 
trunk. 

Of  more  peaceful  interest  are  the  two  big  white 
oaks  which  stood  on  quiet  Bowne  Avenue,  Flush- 
ing, L.  I.,  seventy-five  years  ago.  They  marked 


HISTORIC  TREES  153 

the  place  where  a  great  concourse  of  people  came 
together  near  the  house  of  John  Boune  to  hear  the 
great  Fox,  founder  of  the  Quaker  sect,  preach. 
This  was  in  1672,  when  the  evangelist  was  making 
a  brief  tour  of  some  of  the  American  colonies.  One 
of  these  most  memorable  trees  fell  in  September, 
1841.  The  other  was  reported  dead  but  still  stand- 
ing in  1861,  aged  about  four  hundred  years. 

What  historic  trees  there  are  on  the  great  cen- 
tral plains  between  the  Mississippi  and  the  Rockies 
are  mostly  cottonwoods.  Such  is  a  fine  specimen 
in  the  capitol  grounds  at  Topeka,  Kansas.  It 
sprang  from  a  seed  in  1869  and  has  now  attained  a 
height  of  eighty-five  feet  and  a  spread  of  one  hun- 
dred feet.  Its  trunk  measures  twelve  feet  in  cir- 
cumference. This  tree  is  well  beloved  by  all  loyal 
"jayhawkers,"  especially  as  it  was  the  mustering 
and  distributing  place  for  the  Twentieth  Regiment 
of  Kansas  Volunteers  which  made  such  a  fine  record 
in  the  Philippines. 

It  is  usually  difficult  enough  to  obtain  an  ac- 
curate record  of  a  single  historic  tree  without  delv- 
ing into  leafy  family  history.  Yet  fifty  years  ago 
circumstances  made  the  genealogy  of  a  certain 
weeping  willow  of  New  York  City  so  apparent  that 
its  line  has  been  traced  clear  back  to  Asia.  The 
story  all  turns  upon  the  thoughtfulness  of  a  friend 


154   THE  HUMAN  SIDE  OF  TREES 

of  the  English  poet,  Alexander  Pope.  This  man, 
while  travelling  in  Smyrna,  sent  the  lame  genius  a 
box  of  figs.  In  the  box  was  a  twig  of  the  weeping 
willow  botanically  known  as  Salix  babilonica.  In 
a  spirit  of  curiosity  Pope  planted  the  twig  at  his 
estate  of  Twickenham  on  the  Thames.  In  the 
course  of  time  a  stately  and  magnificent  tree  de- 
veloped. Struck  by  its  decorative  grace,  a  British 
officer  coming  to  America  in  1776  begged  a  twig 
of  Pope's  willow.  It  was  his  intention  to  plant  the 
stick  on  an  estate  to  be  confiscated  from  some  de- 
feated colonial.  As  things  turned  out,  the  Britisher 
did  not  get  his  estate  and  in  chagrin  gave  the  slip 
to  John  Curtis  of  Virginia.  The  latter  promptly 
planted  it  and  successfully  raised  a  beautiful  speci- 
men of  the  tree. 

It  is  said  that  this  tree  became  the  progenitor 
of  all  the  weeping  willows  in  the  United  States. 
At  any  rate,  when  General  Gates  leased  a  farm 
at  Rose  Hill,  New  York,  in  1790,  he  planted  at  his 
gate  a  slip  from  the  willow.  The  young  tree  pros- 
pered and  as  a  venerable  greybeard  lived  long  after 
Rose  Hill  had  been  swallowed  up  by  the  expanding 
city  of  New  York.  For  many  years  it  stood  at 
the  corner  of  Third  Avenue  and  Twenty-second 
Street,  but  at  length,  in  1860,  fell  a  victim  to  the 
march  of  time  and  the  Park  Department's  axe. 


HISTORIC  TREES  155 

Another  tree  resident  of  Third  Avenue,  which 
survived  the  Gates  willow  by  a  number  of  years, 
was  Peter  Stuyvesant's  pear  tree.  It  lived  at  the 
corner  of  Thirteenth  Street,  at  the  exact  spot  where 
the  old  Dutch  governor's  country  estate  used  to  be. 
Old  Peter  himself  is  supposed  to  have  planted  the 
tree  with  seeds  or  shoots  brought  from  Holland. 
In  1862  the  tree  was  reported  to  be  at  an  advanced 
age,  minus  most  of  its  branches  and  most  of  its 
leaves. 

Among  other  historic  trees  of  former  days  in  the 
Big  City  was  the  group  of  cypresses  at  the  old 
Jumel  Mansion  near  159th  Street.  They  were  a 
present  to  Mr.  Jumel  from  Napoleon,  who  im- 
ported them  from  Egypt.  In  1802  Alexander 
Hamilton  planted  thirteen  gum  trees  at  his  country 
seat  outside  the  city  to  represent  the  thirteen  col- 
onies. Though  carefully  looked  after,  they  steadily 
declined  throughout  the  century.  .When  the  last 
one  died  in  1908  it  found  itself  in  the  centre  of  the 
metropolitan  up-town  residential  section  at  Con- 
vent Avenue  and  143d  Street. 

Still  standing  on  the  Mall  in  Central  Park  is 
an  American  elm  started  by  Edward  VII  when  on 
a  visit  to  New  York  as  Prince  of  Wales  in  1860. 
He  planted  an  English  oak  alongside  the  elm  to 
indicate  the  friendliness  of  the  two  peoples,  but 


156   THE  HUMAN  SIDE  OF  TREES 

despite  the  utmost  care  the  oak  died  in  1909.  Since 
then  another  tree  of  the  same  species  has  been  set 
out  to  take  its  place. 

It  will  not  do  to  linger  too  long  in  New  York. 
The  whole  world  is  our  field  and  we  must  briefly 
consider  a  few  celebrities  of  Europe  and  Asia. 

The  ancient  Hebrews  were  such  a  religious  peo- 
ple that,  ordinarily,  we  could  expect  to  find  many 
historic  trees  in  their  country.  Unfortunately, 
Palestine  has  been  largely  denuded  of  its  splendid 
Biblical  groves.  Only  isolated  groups  here  and 
there  cheer  a  barren  landscape.  One  of  these  is  the 
famous  Cedars  of  Lebanon.  These  magnificent 
trees  are  first  cousins  to  our  gigantic  redwoods,  and 
are  actual  contemporaries  or  descendants  of  the 
forest  monarchs  used  in  the  construction  of  Solo- 
mon's Temple.  There  are  very  few  left  to-day  in 
the  sacred  enclosure  maintained  by  the  Maronite 
Monks.  A  circular  group  of  twelve  is  called  "The 
Twelve  Apostles,"  on  the  strength  of  the  legend 
that  they  sprouted  from  staves  left  upright  by 
Christ's  religious  family  while  passing  that  way. 
At  Hebron  may  be  seen  Abraham's  Oak,  where  the 
First  Patriarch  received  the  "heavenly  visitors." 
This  tree  is  ten  feet  in  diameter  and  has  many 
admirers  who  claim  it  is  the  oldest  of  its  race. 

The  Greeks  can  point  out  an  ancient  olive  tree 


HISTORIC  TREES  157 

under  which  Plato  and  Socrates  are  said  to  have 
once  had  a  particularly  animated  discussion.  St. 
Paul  is  also  credited  with  having  rested  under  it  on 
his  memorable  journey  to  Athens.  This  vegetable 
greybeard  is  two  thousand  years  old,  but  still  bears 
fruit.  On  the  Island  of  Ceylon  is  a  sacred  bo-tree 
which  authentic  records  indicate  was  planted  228 
B.  C.  It  is  carefully  guarded  and  never  touched 
by  human  hands,  though  pious  pilgrims  may  catch 
the  leaves  as  they  fall. 

Coming  into  Europe,  there  are  a  whole  host  of 
trees  held  in  historic  veneration.  The  ancient  oak 
of  Guernica  in  Spain  is  a  noteworthy  monument. 
Under  its  leaves  Ferdinand  and  Isabella,  in  1476, 
made  oath  to  the  Biscayans  to  faithfully  maintain 
the  privileges  of  the  subject  race.  In  1810  Words- 
worth visited  the  tree  and  wrote  a  sonnet  to  it.  The 
Sultan's  cypress  in  the  Generalife  Gardens  in  the 
city  of  Granada  is  also  associated  with  the  patrons 
of  Columbus.  Irving  describes  in  his  Conquest  of 
Granada  how,  when  the  royal  pair  entered  the  city 
at  the  head  of  their  troops,  the  wife  of  Boabdil, 
the  last  Moorish  Sultan  of  Spain,  took  refuge  in  its 
trunk. 

At  the  Cathedral  of  Hildesheim,  a  small  city 
sixteen  miles  south  of  Hanover,  Germany,  is  what 
is  claimed  to  be  the  oldest  rose  tree  in  the  world. 


158   THE  HUMAN  SIDE  OF  TREES 

Its  credible  history  goes  back  one  thousand  years 
to  Charlemagne  and  the  ninth  century. 

Everybody  has  read  the  story  of  Hollo's  Oak. 
That  doughty  Scandinavian  wrested  a  large  slice 
of  coast  country  away  from  the  French  King  and 
became  the  first  Duke  of  Normandy  about  the  be- 
ginning of  the  eleventh  century.  One  day  he  hung 
a  priceless  gold  chain  on  one  of  the  trees  in  the 
royal  park,  asserting  that  so  well  had  order  been 
established  in  his  new  domains  that  no  one  would 
dare  molest  it.  The  boast  held  good  for  one  night 
at  least  and  the  tree  in  consequence  has  lived  an 
honoured  life  down  to  this  day.  It  has  become 
very  weak  in  recent  years  and  almost  collapsed 
several  times.  Under  the  direction  of  some  skilful 
gardener  it  was  still  later  furnished  with  a  new 
inside  of  masonry  and  promptly  took  on  new  life. 

On  this  side  of  the  water  and  excluding  the 
United  States,  there  is  the  Surrender  Tree  at  Santi- 
ago de  Cuba,  where  Spanish  arms  yielded  to  Amer 
ican  prowess  in  1898.  This  landmark  is  a  giant 
ceiba  or  silk  cotton,  as  is  the  tree  in  Havana  which 
is  venerated  as  a  direct  descendant  of  the  ceiba 
planted  by  Velasquez  to  commemorate  the  found- 
ing of  the  city. 

In  Chapultepec  Park,  summer  residence  of  the 
Mexican  presidents,  is  a  giant  cypress  of  Herculean 


HISTORIC  TREES  159 

proportions  with  an  estimated  age  of  six  thousand 
years.  Both  Montezuma  and  his  Spanish  con- 
queror, Cortez,  are  believed  to  have  sat  under  it. 
During  the  war  between  the  United  States  and 
Mexico  Major  Lee  and  Captain  Grant  once  met 
there.  Little  did  they  know  that  they  were  to 
become  the  two  principal  opposing  generals  in  the 
greatest  civil  war  in  history. 

Is  it  necessary  to  adduce  further  proof  to  show 
how  intimately  the  trees  are  bound  up  with  the 
progress  of  man  on  this  whirling  sphere  of  ours? 
Since  the  beginning  of  time  when  Adam  and  Eve 
lived  in  the  Garden  of  Eden  among  the  trees,  we 
have  instinctively  turned  to  them  as  the  best  and 
most  sympathetic  symbol  of  the  life  and  force  which 
persists  through  eternity.  They  are  silent  but  ef- 
ficient chroniclers. 


XII 

RELIGIOUS  TREES 

"The  groves  were  God's  first  temples." 

T  I  iREE  worship  is  probably  one  of  the  very  earli- 
A'  est  forms  of  divine  ritual.  Sacred  trees  ap- 
pear in  the  most  ancient  mythologies  and  linger  in 
the  last  remnants  of  heathenism.  Even  Christian 
practices  have  not  failed  to  recognise  man's  inherent 
reverence  for  the  trees. 

No  one  knows  exactly  how  tree  worship  started, 
but  it  is  easy  to  hazard  some  very  plausible  guesses. 
A  belief  common  to  many  primitive  races  is  that 
anything  which  exhibits  life  or  force  must  possess 
consciousness  or  a  spirit.  A  thing  so  majestic,  so 
inspiring  as  a  tree,  which  ordinarily  lives  so  much 
longer  than  a  man  and  so  is  associated  with  both 
the  distant  past  and  the  hazy  future,  would  easily 
win  early  man's  adoration.  It  was  also  the  habit 
of  our  primeval  ancestors  to  worship  the  nat- 
ural sources  of  their  benefits.  Inasmuch  as  the  sun 
which  warmed  them  by  day ;  the  moon  and  the  stars, 
which  lighted  them  by  night ;  the  rain,  which  cooled 

160 


RELIGIOUS  TREES  161 

and  refreshed  them  in  times  of  heat,  were  all  objects 
of  their  worship,  why  not  the  trees,  which  also  pro- 
tected them  from  the  noon-day  sun  and  with  their 
fruit,  bark,  leaves  and  sap  often  clothed  their  bodies, 
built  their  houses  and  furnished  their  food? 

The  lofty  and  spiritual  appearance  of  many  trees 
would  also  tend  to  excite  reverence.  The  slenderly 
tapering  loblolly  bay,  with  its  ethereal  leaves  and 
pure  white  blossoms,  is  a  veritable  call  to  worship. 
Its  wax-like  flowers  are  candles  on  nature's  altar. 

It  is  reasonable  to  assume  that  only  during  the 
veritable  beginnings  of  the  human  race  were  trees 
the  direct  recipients  of  man's  worship.  It  was  not 
long  before  certain  trees  became  the  sign  and  sym- 
bol of  more  remote  forces  and  deities,  and  their 
groves  the  temples  in  which  devotion  was  shown. 
The  trees  were  often  regarded  as  the  actual  abode 
of  certain  spirits — sometimes  gods  to  be  adored  and 
revered,  sometimes  spirits  or  demons  to  be  feared 
and  appeased. 

It  is  a  curious  fact  that  many  of  the  great  re- 
ligions of  ancient  peoples  converge  upon  the  con- 
ception of  a  divinely  endowed  tree  guarded  by  a 
serpent.  This  tree  was  usually  the  tree  of  life  and 
knowledge  and  sometimes  the  upholder  of  the 
world.  The  tree  of  life  in  the  Garden  of  Eden  and 
the  Scandinavian  tree  of  the  universe  have  points 


162   THE  HUMAN  SIDE  OF  TREES 

of  similarity.  That  both  the  Scandinavians  of 
northern  Europe  and  the  Algonquin  Indians  of 
North  America  should  have  believed  that  man  was 
originally  created  from  an  ash  tree  is  a  remarkable 
coincidence.  Even  those  religions  which  do  not 
give  the  trees  such  a  prominent  place,  make  fre- 
quent and  complimentary  allusion  to  them.  The 
conception  of  paradise  as  a  garden  is  frequent.  The 
word  Bible  itself  means  papyrus  bark.  The 
Brahmins  have  a  very  beautiful  saying  which  shows 
that  the  sandal-tree  by  perfuming  the  axe  which 
lays  it  low  teaches  that  we  should  love  our  enemies. 
Conventionalised  representations  of  sacred  trees 
appear  on  the  Chaldean  cylinders  of  4000  B.  C.  and 
so  trace  the  trees'  connection  with  religion  back  to 
the  earliest  human  records  yet  discovered.  All  the 
great  races  of  antiquity  also  accorded  them  a  place. 
The  sycamore  was  held  in  veneration  by  the  Egyp- 
tians and  worshipped  with  fruit  offerings  and  jars 
of  water  of  which  travellers  might  partake.  The 
Persians  believed  certain  trees  to  be  the  dwelling 
places  of  gods  and  the  haunts  of  good  and  evil 
spirits.  Sacred  trees  appear  in  most  of  the  ancient 
sculpture  and  painting  of  Assyria.  The  date  palm, 
fig,  pine  and  cedar  are  all  represented  as  trees  of 
life  at  which  the  gods  got  their  strength.  The 
palm  was  holy  in  Arabia.  Brahma  of  India  made 


LOBLOLLY  BAY.     Gordonia  lacianthus. 
The  wax-like  flowers  of  the  loblolly  bay  are  candles  on  nature's  altar. 


RELIGIOUS  TREES  163 

the  fig  sovereign  of  the  trees.    The  Mohammedans 
still  honour  the  date. 

In  Biblical  times  the  Canaanites  planted  a 
sacred  tree  beside  each  altar,  and  the  Israelites, 
adopting  their  custom,  set  up  sanctuaries  under  the 
shade  of  groves,  which  were  also  emblematic  of  the 
Garden  of  Eden.  It  was  when  the  worship  in  these 
groves  took  on  a  form  still  more  like  that  of  their 
heathen  neighbours,  that  the  thunderous  denuncia- 
tions of  the  prophets  were  so  often  aroused.  It  is 
recorded  that  the  voice  of  God  came  to  Moses  from 
a  burning  bush,  which  might  be  taken  as  an  indica- 
tion of  the  belief  in  trees  as  oracles.  The  olive  was 
reverenced  by  the  Hebrews.  It  is  said  that  the 
cherubims  of  the  ark  were  carved  from  its  wood. 
The  golden  palm  was  regarded  as  a  mystic  tree  by 
both  the  Jews  and  the  Arabs.  The  species  of  that 
day  were  said  to  rustle  their  leaves  even  when  no 
wind  was  stirring.  This  was  looked  upon  as  a  form 
of  prophecy  which  those  skilled  in  "the  language  of 
the  palms"  could  interpret.  It  is  believed  that 
Abraham  was  well  versed  in  this  art  and  that  Solo- 
mon planted  some  of  these  wonderful  trees  in  his 
temple.  The  fact  that  Abraham  "received  heavenly 
visitors"  under  an  oak,  that  the  angel  spoke  to 
Gideon  from  under  an  oak  and  that  Isaiah  rebuked 


164   THE  HUMAN  SIDE  OF  TREES 

the  Israelites  for  their  idols  under  "every  thick  oak" 
may  be  of  significance. 

The  Greeks  of  1500  B.  C.  are  believed  to  have 
worshipped  gods  in  tree  form.  The  oracle  of  Zeus 
at  Dodona  was  in  a  grove  of  oaks,  and  was  itself 
an  exceptionally  fine  specimen  of  that  majestic 
race.  It  answered  questions  by  rustling  its  leaves, 
murmuring  through  the  spring  which  bubbled  from 
its  base,  by  influencing  the  drawing  of  lots  from  the 
urn  at  its  roots  and  by  causing  certain  brass  vessels 
which  hung  on  its  boughs  to  clash  together.  Of 
course,  there  was  a  whole  corps  of  priests  and  aged 
women  for  the  interpretation  of  these  cryptic  mes- 
sages. All  that  was  necessary  to  set  the  seance  in 
session  was  a  good,  stiff  breeze. 

Classic  literature  and  mythology  are  full  of  other 
references  to  the  divine  aspects  of  trees.  Some  au- 
thorities say  that,  preceding  the  statues  in  the  Greek 
temples,  were  carved  posts  representing  tree  trunks. 
It  was  a  poplar  tree  which  cured  Hercules  of  his 
serpent  bite.  After  a  world-wide  search  he  found 
it  in  Spain.  The  Pillars  of  Hercules  were  raised  to 
commemorate  the  event.  In  Greece,  the  pine  was 
sacred  to  the  memory  of  Poseidon  and  Dionysus. 
Birch  wood  was  always  used  to  make  the  fasces  of 
the  Roman  magistrate.  Perhaps  that  is  why  a  birch 
rod  is  still  held  to  be  a  schoolmaster's  badge  of  au- 


RELIGIOUS  TREES  165 

thority.  Among  the  fruits  the  apple  is  the  favour- 
ite of  the  classic  writers.  Aphrodite  holds  it  in  her 
hand  and  Ulysses  longs  for  it  in  the  Garden  of 
Alcinous. 

It  was  with  our  European  ancestors  that  tree 
veneration  reached  its  highest  expression.  The 
Scandinavians  believed  that  the  destinies  of  the 
earth  lay  with  their  tree  of  the  universe — Yggdra- 
sill.  A  whole  mythology  explained  how  certain 
actions  of  the  birds  and  animals  which  dwelt  in  and 
around  it  affected  affairs  in  the  world  of  men. 
Yggdrasill  was  an  ash,  as  was  the  progenitor  of 
the  first  men.  It  is  related  that  the  god  Odin  and 
his  brothers,  while  walking  by  the  sea,  came  upon 
two  striking  trees.  In  some  sort  of  creative  im- 
pulse, Odin  changed  them  into  a  man  and  a  woman. 
The  ash  (ask)  became  the  man  and  the  elm  (em- 
bla)  the  woman.  This  suggests  why  tree  and  an- 
cestor worship  are  sometimes  blended. 

Next  to  the  ash,  the  oak  was  the  most  sacred  of 
northern  trees.  It  was  recognised  as  king  of 
the  trees  and  the  representative  of  supernatural 
strength  and  power.  Laws  of  the  early  Saxons  pro- 
tected it  from  injury.  Because  so  often  struck  by 
lightning,  it  was  believed  to  be  the  special  tree  of 
Thor,  the  thunder  god.  The  ancient  Britons  also 
held  the  oak  and  the  mistletoe  which  grew  on  it  in 


166   THE  HUMAN  SIDE  OF  TREES 

special  awe.  To  them,  a  gnarled  and  shattered  oak 
was  the  most  mystical  thing  in  the  world — and  prob- 
ably it  is !  As  an  indication  of  the  personal  regard 
which  primitive  people  have  for  certain  trees,  wit- 
ness the  fact  that  not  more  than  two  or  three  cen- 
turies ago  it  was  the  custom  in  certain  parts  of 
Westphalia  to  make  a  formal  announcement  of  each 
death  in  a  family  to  the  nearest  oak. 

There  was  a  great  mass  of  superstition  and 
peasantry  practice  in  which  various  trees  figured 
throughout  the  Middle  Ages.  In  Europe  and  oc- 
casionally in  England,  it  was  believed  that  a  child 
could  be  cured  of  rupture  by  passing  it  through  a 
split  oak  branch.  The  tree-wound  was  bound  to- 
gether and  plastered  up  with  clay  or  loam.  If  it 
healed,  the  child  likewise  would  be  cured.  The  lin- 
den was  long  considered  sacred  in  Germany  and 
was  looked  upon  as  the  habitation  of  the  goddess  of 
Love.  The  people  of  the  same  country  also  re- 
vered the  elder  and  associated  it  with  Huldah  or 
Hilda,  the  mother  of  the  Elves.  It  is  quite  curious 
that  despite  its  prepossessing  character,  the  walnut 
was  generally  believed  in  the  northern  countries  to 
be  diabolical  in  origin  and  the  hereditary  enemy  of 
the  oak.  It  was  maintained  that  when  these  two 
trees  grew  close  together,  one  or  the  other  must 
wither  and  die. 


RELIGIOUS  TREES  167 

During  all  this  time,  many  of  the  old  tree  beliefs 
of  the  East  still  persisted  or  were  superseded  by 
others.  A  very  interesting  mediaeval  tree-story 
comes  to  us  from  India.  It  is  said  that  Tsong  Kaba, 
who  later  became  Buddha,  had  very  beautiful  white 
hair  as  an  infant.  For  some  unknown  reason,  his 
parents  decided  to  cut  it  off  when  the  lad  was  about 
three  years  old.  No  doubt  the  child  protested,  but 
his  head  wras  shaved  forthwith  and  the  pretty  locks 
thrown  outside  the  tent.  They  had  not  been  there 
long,  when  lo,  there  sprang  up  from  them  a  tree, 
which  exhaled  a  delicious  perfume  and  bore  mysti- 
cal Thibetian  characters  on  each  of  its  leaves.  As 
can  be  well  imagined,  such  a  remarkable  plant  at 
once  became  the  object  of  adoration.  The  Em- 
peror Khang-Hi  built  a  silver  dome  over  it  to  pro- 
tect it  from  the  elements  and  as  the  "Tree  of  Ten 
Thousand  Images"  it  became  a  famous  place  of 
pilgrimage.  The  Abbe  Hue  is  said  to  have  visited 
it  in  person  and  vouched  for  its  genuineness. 

So  strong  a  hold  had  tree  worship  on  the  inhabi- 
tants of  Europe  that  they  carried  over  certain  of 
their  modified  beliefs  into  Christianity.  Their  an- 
cient woodland  gods  under  Christian  influences  be- 
came elves,  sprites,  witches,  goblins,  etc.  Individ- 
ual trees  heretofore  sacred  because  of  mighty  deeds 
wrought  in  their  vicinity  by  Thor  or  Odin  now  be- 


168   THE  HUMAN  SIDE  OF  TREES 

came  holy  as  the  place  where  a  saint  had  performed 
some  marvellous  act.  The  oak  was  still  reverenced 
as  the  most  sacred  of  trees,  but  now,  with  a  cross 
cut  in  its  bark,  was  a  special  protection  against  man 
and  elfin  enemies.  As  late  as  the  twelfth  century, 
church  canons  in  England  and  Ireland  thundered 
against  an  over-reverence  for  sacred  trees. 

It  is  said  that  when  St.  Augustine  made  his  fa- 
mous missionary  landing  in  England  in  the  sixth 
century,  he  wisely  chose  an  oak  as  a  pulpit  from 
which  to  preach  to  King  Ethelbert.  Remarkable 
were  the  experiences  of  St.  Bonnif ace  with  the  great 
"Thor's  Oak"  in  the  land  of  the  Hessians.  Going 
on  a  missionary  expedition  from  England  to  cen- 
tral Germany,  he  found  the  natives  standing  in 
great  awe  of  the  Tree  of  the  Thunder  God.  He 
determined  to  cut  it  down  and  so  destroy  their  rev- 
erence. When  the  great  tree  was  half  cut  through, 
the  story  says  that  it  was  shaken  by  a  supernatural 
wind  so  that  it  fell  to  the  ground  and  divided  into 
four  parts.  The  round-standing  heathens  recog- 
nised this  as  a  miracle  and  were  converted  on  the 
spot.  As  a  memorial  of  the  event  St.  Bonnif  ace 
built  an  oratory  from  the  wood  of  the  fallen  giant. 

Many  beautiful  mediaeval  legends  grew  up  to  ex- 
plain the  history  of  the  true  Cross.  One  version 
narrates  that  the  tree  on  which  the  Saviour  was 


RELIGIOUS  TREES  169 

crucified  came  directly  from  the  Garden  of  Eden. 
Adam  is  represented  as  carrying  from  the  Garden 
a  number  of  seeds  from  the  Tree  of  Life.  One  of 
these  he  planted  in  Hebron.  This  tree  (or  its  de- 
scendants, it  is  not  clear  which)  was  always  care- 
fully preserved  and  protected  by  the  Biblical 
patriarchs.  When  the  Israelites  set  forth  on  their 
forty  years'  wanderings  Moses  carried  the  tree 
with  him.  Established  in  the  land  of  Canaan,  it 
was  the  tree  under  which  David  sat  to  compose 
his  psalms.  Solomon  decided  to  accord  it  a  promi- 
nent place  in  his  temple,  but  after  it  had  been  cut 
to  shape,  it  was  rejected  and  flung  into  a  marsh 
where  it  served  as  a  bridge  for  many  years.  After 
a  while  it  either  sunk  or  was  buried  in  the  earth, 
and  from  a  position  beneath  the  bottom  of  the  Pool 
of  Bethesda  imparted  healing  properties  to  the 
water.  At  the  time  of  the  crucifixion,  the  beam  rose 
to  the  surface  of  the  pool  and  was  seized  upon  by 
the  infuriated  Jews  as  a  convenient  log  upon  which 
to  crucify  the  Christ.  Records  which  have  some 
historical  value  say  that  the  Cross  was  refound  by 
the  Empress  Helena  in  the  year  326.  It  is  often 
stated  that  the  Cross  was  made  of  oak,  though  many 
legends  name  cypress,  cedar,  pine,  and  box.  There 
is  a  pretty,  though  comparatively  recent  legend, 
which  maintains  that  the  Cross  was  made  from 


170   THE  HUMAN  SIDE  OF  TREES 

aspen  wood,  which  explains  why  that  tree  has  been 
shivering  and  trembling  in  shame  ever  since.  Judas 
Iscariot  is  said  to  have  hung  himself  on  an  elder 
tree. 

Lest  the  reader  be  tempted  to  relegate  tree  wor- 
ship to  a  distant  and  shady  past,  he  should  know 
that  spiritual  reverence  for  the  trees  has  a  wider 
footing  in  the  world  to-day  than  would  seem  pos- 
sible. If  one  were  standing  in  certain  parts  of 
Arabia  at  this  moment,  he  would  observe  that  the 
tribesmen  always  pray  under  a  heglik  tree.  Travel- 
ling on  the  Guinea  coast  he  could  not  touch  certain 
sacred  trees  on  peril  of  his  life.  In  the  Congo  he 
would  see  a  holy  tree  before  each  village  house  with 
jars  of  wine  under  it  as  offerings  to  the  tree  spirits. 
In  Bengal,  the  people  regard  the  sal  tree  as  their 
national  protector  and  the  resort  of  all  family  gods. 
They  hold  annual  festivals  in  sal  groves.  In  the 
Dahomey  region  of  Africa,  certain  sacred  trees 
such  as  the  Hun'-tin  are  provided  with  women  care- 
takers who  act  as  their  servants. 

Why  do  we  decorate  our  houses  with  holly  and 
mistletoe  at  Christmas  time?  It  has  become  a  fes- 
tive custom  with  us,  but  our  barbarous  ancestors 
who  originated  the  habit  believed  that  when  they 
brought  holly  and  mistletoe  into  a  house  the  spirits 
which  inhabited  them  and  kept  them  bright  and 


AT  THE  EDGE  OF  A  CALIFORNIA  REDWOOD  FOREST 


RELIGIOUS  TREES  171 

green  all  winter  would  come  too  and  bestow  their 
blessing  on  the  inmates.  Doubtless  such  also  was 
the  origin  of  the  use  of  the  fir  tree  for  winter  in- 
door festivities.  This  tree  by  retaining  its  green- 
ness all  the  year  was  regarded  as  a  special  favour- 
ite of  the  tree-spirits. 

Why  should  date  and  palm  leaves  appear  in 
Gothic  architecture?  They  do  not  grow  in  the  cold 
latitudes  which  gave  the  world  that  noble  style  of 
building,  but  they  were  sacred  to  certain  ancient 
Assyrians  and  Hebrews.  Embodied  in  their  rec- 
ords, they  were  taken  over  by  Christianity  and 
made  symbols  in  the  walls  of  northern  churches. 

The  may-pole  dance  is  a  harmless  diversion  of 
children,  but  in  its  original  form  it  was  a  heathen 
orgy  to  the  wood  spirits  and  was  believed  to  in- 
sure fertility  in  man  and  beast. 

To  this  day,  a  maiden  of  Silesia  places  an  apple 
under  her  pillow  on  New  Year's  Eve  and  expects 
to  see  her  future  husband  in  a  dream  at  midnight. 
Whether  she  does  or  not  probably  depends  upon 
the  tranquillity  or  perversity  of  her  digestion,  but 
even  her  most  enlightened  sister  of  America  or  Eng- 
land lapses  occasionally  into  one  of  the  senseless 
but  beautifully  romantic  tree-superstitions  which 
have  come  down  to  us  from  barbarism. 

Many  of  the  religious  and  social  customs  of  the 


172  THE  HUMAN  SIDE  OF  TREES 

ancients  were  repulsive  and  revolting,  but  in  tree 
worship  we  usually  find  nothing  but  beauty  and 
idealism.  As  we  look  upon  the  grace,  the  sym- 
metry, the  nobility  and  the  grandeur  of  a  stately 
tree,  it  is  not  hard  for  us  to  imagine  times  and  con- 
ditions when  we  ourselves  might  worship  it. 


XIII 

CURIOUS  TREES 

There  at  the  foot  of  yonder  nodding  beech 
That  wrestles  its  old  fantastic  roots  so  high, 

His  listless  length  at  noontide  he  would  stretch 
And  pore  upon  the  brook  that  bubbled  by. 

— GRAY. 

ONE  reason  why  the  study  of  trees  is  so  fasci- 
nating is  because  of  the  unusual  and  extraor- 
dinary elements  they  continually  present.  In  the 
vast  expanses  of  the  tree  kingdom  are  many  species 
and  individuals  which,  by  veering  from  the  expected 
and  the  normal,  have  made  themselves  noteworthy 
for  all  time. 

Who  has  not  heard  of  the  big  trees  of  California 
— those  gigantic  sequoias  and  redwoods  which 
tower  to  unbelievable  heights?  They  are  possibly 
the  most  extraordinary  trees  in  all  the  world.  They 
are  really  relics  of  the  pre-glacial  ages  of  huge 
reptiles,  gigantic  ferns  and  other  strange  natural 
forms.  The  three-toed  horse,  the  hairy  mammoth 
and  the  sabre-toothed  tiger  are  believed  to  have  been 
173 


174   THE  HUMAN  SIDE  OF  TREES 

their  first  contemporaries.  There  is  good  evidence 
that  the  sequoias  once  covered  a  large  part  of  North 
America  reaching  well  up  toward  the  pole.  The 
coming  of  the  glacial  ice  and  the  resulting  change 
of  climate  wiped  them  out  with  the  exception  of  the 
small  groups  still  existing  on  the  western  slopes  of 
the  Sierra  Nevada  Mountains. 

Among  the  magnificent  sequoia  specimens  of  the 
Mariposa  and  Calaveras  Groves  in  the  Yosemite 
National  Park  are  direct  descendants  of  the  an- 
cient trees  which  survived  the  polar  ice.  The  largest 
are  considerably  over  four  hundred  feet  tall  and 
over  a  hundred  feet  in  circumference  at  the  base. 
Good  average  mature  sticks  point  up  for  two  hun- 
dred and  fifty  to  three  hundred  feet.  It  would 
take  six  lusty  elms  mounted  one  above  the  other  to 
reach  this  height. 

The  many  pictures  of  these  trees  with  men  and 
horses  grouped  about  their  bases  in  pigmy  atti- 
tudes give  vague  ideas  of  their  immensity,  but  per- 
haps the  impression  becomes  more  concrete  when 
one  learns  that  a  recently  felled  specimen  was  con- 
verted into  3000  fence  posts,  650,000  shingles 
(enough  for  70  to  80  houses)  and  100  cords  of 
firewood,  which  no  one  could  use  because  of  the 
expense  of  hauling  it  away.  After  this  there  still 


A  NATURAL  TEMPLE  IN  PIKE  NATIONAL  FOREST,  COLORADO 


THE  AFRICAN  CEIBA  OR  SILK-COTTON  TREE  IS  OFTEN  AN  OBJECT  OF  VENERATION 


CURIOUS  TREES  175 

remained  unused  the  upper  third  of  the  trunk  and 
all  the  branches. 

The  trees  vary  in  age  from  two  to  four  thousand 
years,  though  some  authorities  after  examining  the 
annual  rings  of  the  stumps  ascribe  an  even  greater 
age  to  some  of  the  living  giants.  At  any  rate,  we 
must  go  back  to  the  Age  of  Pericles  or  the  time 
of  King  Solomon  to  gain  an  idea  of  the  period  in 
time  when  they  were  young. 

It  is  the  sequoia,  or,  to  be  scientific,  the  Sequoia 
gigantea,  or  the  Sequoia  WasMngtomana,  which  has 
this  extreme  age  and  height.  His  redwood  cousin, 
the  Sequoia  sempervirens,  can  almost  equal  his  size. 
In  appearance,  both  varieties  are  most  impressive. 
Their  beautifully  fluted  trunks  rise  from  a  needle- 
carpeted  ground  like  immense  cathedral  columns. 
Far  above,  their  cedar-like  foliage  unites  into  an 
airy  green  roof.  If  ever  there  were  natural  tem- 
ples, it  is  in  these  groves. 

The  sequoias,  tall  as  they  are,  must  yield  on 
mere  size  to  the  eucalypti  of  Australia.  Travellers 
all  agree  that  these  tremendous  growths  are  quite 
the  tallest  trees  yet  discovered.  The  eucalyptus 
is  said  to  be  very  rapid  growing  in  its  habits  but  is 
not  known  to  attain  any  remarkable  age. 

Another  tree  of  immense  proportions  is  the  ban- 
yan or  Indian  fig,  sometimes  called  the  peepul-tree. 


176   THE  HUMAN  SIDE  OF  TREES 

This  creature  attains  its  noteworthy  size  in  a  lat- 
eral instead  of  a  perpendicular  direction.  As  the 
main  branches  grow,  they  throw  down  roots  or 
props  which,  fastening  themselves  in  the  ground, 
send  out  branches  of  their  own.  This  continues  in- 
definitely, until  a  great  vegetable  structure  of  many 
trunks  and  interlaced  branches  results.  The  trunks 
are  massed  close  together  near  the  original  stem, 
but  are  wider  apart,  like  great  wooden  columns,  in 
the  outer  regions.  The  effect  is  that  of  a  great 
grove  of  connected  trees — a  real  natural  temple. 

On  the  banks  of  the  River  Nerbudda  is  a  banyan 
which  is  said  to  be  capable  of  sheltering  7,000  men. 
History  claims  it  to  be  the  same  tree  described  by 
Nearchus,  the  admiral  of  Alexander  the  Great. 
High  floods  have  at  various  times  swept  away  a 
considerable  part  of  this  extraordinary  tree,  but 
what  still  remains  is  nearly  2,000  feet  in  circumfer- 
ence, measured  round  the  principal  stems ;  the  over- 
hanging branches  not  yet  struck  down  cover  a  much 
larger  space,  and  under  it  grow  a  number  of  cus- 
tard-apple and  other  fruit  trees.  The  large  trunks 
of  this  single  colossus  amount  to  a  greater  number 
than  the  days  of  the  year,  and  the  smaller  ones  ex- 
ceed 3,000,  each  constantly  sending  forth  branches 
and  hanging  roots  to  form  other  trunks  and  become 
the  parents  of  a  future  progeny.  And  so  we  find 


CURIOUS  TREES  177 

that  many  of  these  ancient  giants  are  more  wonder- 
ful than  the  palaces  and  temples  reared  by  proud 
kings !  On  the  Point  de  Galle  Road  in  Ceylon  is  a 
beautiful  banyan  which  has  thrown  an  arch  over 
the  highway.  There  is  a  young  but  lusty  specimen 
growing  on  the  grounds  of  the  Army  Post  at  Key 
.West,  Florida.  It  is  said  to  be  the  only  one  in  the 
United  States.  One  can  hardly  blame  the  Hindus 
for  attaching  religious  significance  to  these  most 
remarkable  trees. 

A  tree  of  tendencies  similar  to  the  banyan  is  the 
ceiba  or  silk  cotton.  This  also  lets  down  aerial  roots 
which  grow  into  the  ground  and  become  buttresses 
for  its  immense  branches.  A  ceiba  of  unusual  size  is 
the  one  near  the  Government  House  at  Nassau  in 
the  Bahamas. 

On  the  Greek  island  of  Cos  is  a  giant  plane  tree 
which  has  become  so  old  and  ponderous  that  it  has 
become  necessary  for  public-spirited  citizens  to 
support  its  branches  with  marble  columns.  It  oc- 
cupies a  prominent  place  in  the  public  square  and 
the  people  almost  worship  it. 

For  many  years,  people  all  over  the  world  talked 
about  the  Dragon  Tree  of  Teneriffe  (Draccena 
Draco ) .  It  was  a  member  of  the  lily  family  and 
was  considered  a  wonder  of  vegetation.  Its  leaves 
waved  in  the  breezes  seventy-five  feet  above  the 


178   THE  HUMAN  SIDE  OF  TREES 

ground.  Its  trunk  was  forty-eight  feet  around, 
and  had  a  staircase  built  in  a  hollow  portion.  The 
Dragon  Tree  fell  in  1867. 

A  most  curious  growth  is  the  baob,  baobab  or 
monkey  bread  tree  (Adansonia  Oregona).  It  flour- 
ishes in  various  parts  of  the  world,  but  is  especially 
prolific  in  the  Kimberley  district  of  northwest  Aus- 
tralia. The  natives  there  call  it  the  bottle  or  gouty 
tree,  because  of  its  tremendously  enlarged  trunk. 
It  starts  out  in  life  slender  enough  but  takes  on 
a  surprising  girth  with  the  years  (much  as  if  it 
had  been  addicted  to  the  bottle).  Sometimes  the 
stem  is  almost  spherical  like  a  turnip.  Trees  only 
ten  or  twelve  feet  high  may  have  trunks  70  or  80 
feet  in  circumference.  The  branches  extend  for  a 
distance  of  50  or  60  feet  and  form  the  base  of  a 
hemisphere  of  verdure  150  feet  in  diameter  and  very 
pleasing  in  texture.  Occasionally,  the  immense 
trunks  grow  in  pairs.  With  their  exposed  knotty 
roots,  they  suggest  to  the  imaginative  mind  some 
huge,  double-headed  octopus. 

The  wood  composing  these  immense  trunks  is 
soft  and  spongy  and  filled  with  a  mucilage-like  sap. 
In  time  of  drought,  the  fibre  is  fed  to  cattle  because 
of  the  large  amount  of  moisture  it  contains.  When 
a  baobab  is  cut  down,  a  new  tree  frequently  arises 
from  the  prostrate  trunk. 


CURIOUS  TREES  179 

The  flowers  are  white,  something  like  those  of 
the  eucalyptus.  They  develop  into  a  thin-skinned 
fruit,  covered  with  green  hairs  and  about  the  size 
of  a  small  cocoanut.  It  contains  a  flour-like  powder 
of  acrid  taste  which  mixes  well  with  water  to  form 
a  pleasant,  thirst-quenching  drink.  The  fruit  of 
the  African  species  hangs  on  a  slender  two-foot 
cord  much  like  an  electric  light  bulb.  In  that  coun- 
try, small  families  often  find  comfortable  living 
quarters  within  the  decayed  interior  of  a  hollow 
baobab  trunk. 

Australia,  whose  flora  is  quite  different  from  any 
other  place  in  the  world,  is  also  the  home  of  the  beef 
tree,  which  yields  wood  the  colour  of  a  raw  steak; 
the  grass  tree,  which  in  lieu  of  foliage  has  green 
hair-like  growths  all  over  its  trunk ;  and  the  fire  and 
flame  tree  which  at  certain  times  of  the  year  blazes 
with  brilliant  blossoms. 

Many  trees  are  famous  for  the  queer  products 
which  they  manufacture.  A  number  of  these  are 
described  in  the  chapter  with  that  heading.  The 
cow  tree  or  palo  de  vaca  is  found  in  Venezuela.  It 
inhabits  rocky  soils  of  high  altitude,  and  is  reported 
to  be  able  to  get  along  without  moisture  of  any 
kind  for  six  or  seven  months.  When  rain  does 
come,  it  stores  it  up  in  the  form  of  a  thick,  creamy 
"milk"  of  a  balmy  odour.  On  being  drawn  from 


180  THE  HUMAN  SIDE  OF  TREES 

the  tree  and  allowed  to  stand,  this  milk  thickens  to 
a  substance  much  resembling  cheese.  It  is  doubtful 
whether  either  the  milk  or  the  cheese  could  compete 
in  the  world's  markets  with  the  Simon-pure  cow 
variety. 

There  are  a  whole  series  of  Indian,  African  and 
South  American  plants  called  butter  trees.  They 
mostly  yield  fixed  oils  which  have  more  of  the  prop- 
erties than  the  colour  and  consistency  of  our  famil- 
iar dairy  product.  It  is  in  the  nuts  that  the  oil  is 
most  often  found. 

In  the  South  Sea  Islands  the  natives  have  cheap 
lighting  bills.  All  they  have  to  do  is  to  place  a  few 
baked  kernels  of  the  tallow  or  candle  tree  on  a 
stick  and  they  have  a  torch  which  yields  a  bright 
clear  light.  The  tallow  can  be  extracted  from  the 
seeds  by  boiling.  It  is  sometimes  used  for  food. 

From  the  candle  tree  of  Panama  hang  cylindri- 
cal wax-like  fruits  which  look  like  tallow  candles. 
Unfortunately,  they  cannot  be  burned. 

In  Madagascar  are  many  dry  and  arid  regions. 
A  flourishing  native  of  such  sections  is  the  travel- 
ler's tree.  Many  a  thirst-stricken  wanderer  has 
come  upon  these  friends  of  man  and  rejoiced  at  his 
find.  No  matter  how  hot  the  temperature  or  how 
long  ago  the  last  rain  fell,  their  enormously  thick 
leaves  will  always  yield  about  a  quart  of  clear, 


A  CURIOUSLY  SHAPED  BARRIGUDA  TREE,  A  BRAZILIAN  SILK  COTTON 


CURIOUS  TREES  181 

agreeable  water.  These  leaves  are  incidentally  very 
beautiful.  They  grow  on  opposite  sides  of  the  stem 
to  form  the  ribs  of  a  perfect  natural  fan.  The  tree 
has  a  decidedly  economic  use  aside  from  its  func- 
tions as  a  water  reservoir.  The  stalks  make  excel- 
lent walls  for  houses  and  the  leaves  serve  as  first- 
class  thatch. 

Travellers  in  China  often  remark  upon  the  bril- 
liant and  lustrous  paint  which  universally  adorns 
the  river  junks.  The  basis  of  this  paint  is  the  prod- 
uct of  the  Chinese  wood-oil  tree.  The  oil  is  pressed 
out  of  the  green  fruit  when  it  is  about  the  size  of 
an  apple.  A  considerable  amount  is  exported  to 
Europe  and  America. 

The  lacquer- tree  (Rhus  vernicifera)  manufac- 
tures an  acrid,  poisonous  juice  from  which  lacquer 
is  made.  The  industry  has  been  carried  on  in  Japan 
for  1200  years. 

The  life-tree  hails  from  Jamaica.  So  fond  of 
existence  is  this  plant  that  its  leaves  will  continue 
to  grow  after  having  been  broken  from  the  stem. 
It  is  said  that  fire  alone  is  capable  of  destroying 
the  tree's  term  on  earth. 

In  western  India  is  a  tree  that  blossoms  only  in 
the  dark.  For  some  reason,  possibly  because,  as 
ordinarily  seen,  it  is  of  plain  and  desolate  mien,  it 
is  called  the  sorrowful  tree.  Every  evening  in  the 


182   THE  HUMAN  SIDE  OF  TREES 

year  it  breaks  out  into  bloom,  but  with  the  rising 
sun  sheds  or  folds  up  its  flowers.  Often  a  great 
deal  of  dew  condenses  on  the  blossoms  just  before 
dawn.  When  they  close  up,  this  moisture  falls  as 
a  miniature  shower. 

The  strangling  fig  of  Mexico  and  other  tropical 
countries  belongs  to  the  class  of  plant  murderers. 
It  is  an  epiphyte  or  plant  which  perches  on  an- 
other. Its  seeds  float  about  in  the  air  until  they 
find  lodgment  on  some  unoffending  tree-neighbour. 
Forthwith  they  sprout  and  push  thick  amorphous 
roots  down  to  the  ground.  At  this  stage,  the  fig 
looks  for  all  the  world  like  some  thick  liquid  flowing 
down  the  invaded  tree.  With  roots  firmly  estab- 
lished in  the  ground,  the  intruder  commences  a  cam- 
paign of  active  development  and  literally  chokes 
and  strangles  its  victim  to  death  within  the  tube 
of  its  own  body.  Often  the  root  connection  with 
the  ground  is  entirely  broken  and  the  murderer 
thrives  entirely  on  the  substance  of  its  victim,  press- 
ing so  tightly  as  to  stop  the  flow  of  sap. 

The  banana  with  propriety  could  be  called  "the 
tree  that  grows  while  you  wait."  Under  ordinary 
conditions  this  luxurious  tropical  resident  develops 
from  a  tiny  little  "sucker"  to  tall  spreading  matur- 
ity in  a  single  year,  but  it  is  capable  of  still  greater 
efforts  when  necessary. 


CURIOUS  TREES  183 

Sever  a  good-sized,  healthy  banana  tree  from  its 
roots  during  the  wet  season  and  it  will  not  die.  On 
the  contrary,  it  will  send  up  a  new  shoot  from  the 
centre  of  the  stump,  and,  as  if  striving  to  make  up 
for  lost  time,  in  forty-eight  hours  will  be  waving 
one  or  more  good-sized  leaves  in  the  breeze.  It  is 
claimed  that  during  the  early  stages  of  this  spurt, 
one  can  actually  see  the  growth  of  the  new  section, 
much  as  plants  are  sometimes  made  to  grow  before 
one's  eyes  on  the  motion-picture  screen. 

In  many  parts  of  the  world  are  so-called  freak 
trees  which  arouse  amazement  because  of  their  mere 
position  in  the  world.  A  remarkable  example  of 
tree  courage  can  be  seen  at  Greensburg,  Indiana. 
High  on  a  Court  House  tower  at  a  point  110  feet 
above  the  ground  flourishes  a  lone  maple  tree.  It 
is  thirty-five  years  old,  fifteen  feet  tall  and  four 
inches  in  diameter.  Its  entire  substance  is  obtained 
from  the  air,  the  rain,  and  material  in  the  crevices 
between  the  stones  in  which  its  roots  are  lodged. 
It  formerly  had  three  companions.  The  largest  was 
removed  in  1887  because  it  was  beginning  to  dis- 
lodge the  huge  stone  blocks.  The  other  two  died 
a  little  later  during  a  period  of  intense  heat.  It  is 
natural  to  assume  that  all  four  were  planted  in 
their  decidedly  unuSual  position  by  the  wind.  The 
surviving  tree  probably  does  not  fit  into  the  archi- 


184   THE  HUMAN  SIDE  OF  TREES 

tectural  scheme  of  the  Court  House  very  gracefully, 
but  the  authorities  do  well  to  leave  it  unmolested 
as  an  example  of  the  wonderful  way  in  which  Na- 
ture's efforts  sometimes  work  out. 

A  somewhat  similar  case  is  reported  from  the 
Island  of  Trinidad.  Here  the  tree  started  on  the 
ground  but  at  the  bottom  of  a  tall  brick  chimney 
once  connected  with  a  now  abandoned  sugar  mill. 
Up  through  the  long,  cramped  tunnel  the  tree 
bravely  struggled  until,  emerging  from  the  top,  it 
was  able  to  bask  in  sun  and  air  unconfined. 

Near  Fort  Pierce,  Florida,  they  tell  of  a  hazard- 
loving  rubber  tree  perched  fifty  feet  above  the 
ground  in  the  fork  of  an  old  dead  pine.  It  receives 
its  substance  through  a  single  root  which  it  sends 
down  to  the  earth. 

The  yucca  palms  which  live  on  the  edge  of  the 
Mojave  Desert  in  Southern  California  are  queer 
trees.  On  their  few  straight  limbs  are  rigid  spine- 
tipped  leaves  of  ashy  grey.  The  older  ones  droop 
dejectedly.  In  the  spring,  dingy  white  blossoms 
give  out  a  repugnant  odour.  Seen  along  the  top 
of  some  mountain  ridge,  these  weird  tree  produc- 
tions of  nature  have  an  eerie,  fantastic  and  un- 
earthly look.  For  all  their  demoniacal  appearance, 
they  are  of  service  to  the  men  of  the  region.  They 


CURIOUS  TREES  185 

furnish  them  with  small,  savoury  fruits  and  seeds 
which  can  be  ground  into  flour. 

Probably  the  most  curious  and  monstrous  trees 
in  all  the  world  are  the  olive  trees  of  Majorca. 
Here  our  interest  is  in  something  more  than  mere 
size,  fruit  or  even  appearance ;  it  is  in  an  abnormal- 
ity and  grotesqueness  which  are  positively  mystical 
and  uncanny.  The  olive  was  not  native  to  the 
Island  of  Majorca,  but  was  introduced  there  by  the 
Romans.  Some  peculiarity  of  soil  or  climate  has 
resulted  in  the  production  of  a  grove  of  trees  of 
most  remarkable  forms  and  shapes. 

The  trees  are  very  old.  In  most  cases,  the  centres 
of  the  huge  trunks  have  entirely  disappeared,  leav- 
ing supporting  fragments  of  peculiar  outline.  The 
upper  portions  of  the  main  trunk  are  usually  intact, 
but  so  contorted  as  to  be  scarcely  recognisable. 
Scraggly,  crooked  and  entangled,  these  trunks  as- 
sume the  most  demoniacal  shapes  imaginable  and 
look  like  anything  except  trees. 

George  Sand  once  marvelled  over  them  and  thus 
described  her  emotions: 

"When  a  person  takes  a  walk  in  the  evening  un- 
der their  shade,  it  is  very  necessary  for  him  to  re- 
call the  fact  that  these  are  indeed  trees,  since,  should 
he  credit  his  eyes  and  his  imagination,  he  would  be 
overcome  with  fright  in  the  midst  of  all  these  fan- 


186   THE  HUMAN  SIDE  OF  TREES 

tastic  monsters — some  curving  toward  him  like  huge 
dragons  with  gaping  mouths  and  outspread  wings, 
others  coiled  like  torpid  boas,  and  still  others  em- 
bracing each  other  with  fury  like  gigantic  wrestlers. 
Here  is  a  centaur  on  a  gallop,  carrying  upon  its 
hindquarters  something  like  a  hideous  ape ;  there  is 
a  nameless  reptile  devouring  a  panting  hind;  far- 
ther along,  a  satyr  dancing  with  a  he-goat  not  so 
ugly  as  himself ;  and  often  it  is  a  single  cleft,  knotty, 
twisted  and  crooked  tree  that  you  would  take  for 
a  group  of  ten  distinct  trees,  and  that  represents 
all  these  various  monsters  and  unites  in  a  single 
head,  which  is  as  horrible  as  that  of  an  Indian 
fetich,  and  is  crowned  with  a  single  green  branch 
like  a  crest." 

Curious  trees !  Their  name  is  legion  but  nothing 
is  more  wonderfully  curious  than  the  life  and  bodily 
workings  of  the  most  prosaic  tree  nearest  to  the 
reader  at  this  present  moment. 


XIV 

TREES  AND   CIVILISATION 

IF  any  man  doubts  that  trees  have  a  most  direct 
and  profound  influence  on  civilisation,  let  him 
look  at  China.  Centuries  ago,  China  was  regarded 
as  one  of  the  most  advanced  and  enlightened  coun- 
tries on  earth.  To-day  her  struggles  toward  real 
republicanism  are  handicapped  by  the  dead  weight 
of  a  dull,  stagnant  population  of  many  millions. 
The  year  she  used  up  her  trees  her  decadence  began. 

China  is  a  perfect  example  of  the  evils  of  defor- 
estation. In  the  eastern  provinces,  the  benumbing 
process  was  completed  so  long  ago  that  most  of  the 
people  do  not  know  that  such  things  as  forests  ex- 
ist. Trees  still  grow  in  the  mountain  fastnesses  of 
the  western  regions,  but  they  are  constantly  being 
reduced  under  demands  for  timber.  When  a  single 
board  suitable  for  use  in  a  coffin  retails  for  $2.00 
to  $3.00  in  Shensi,  it  pays  a  coolie  to  carry  a  few 
sticks  down  there. 

In  eastern  China,  one  may  travel  for  hundreds  of 
miles  through  a  treeless  waste.  The  war  on  vegeta- 

187 


188  THE  HUMAN  SIDE  OF  TREES 

tion  is  so  acute  that  every  autumn  the  people  of  the 
villages  scatter  over  the  hillsides  to  collect  every  bit 
of  grass,  twigs  and  other  herbage  which  dares  to 
show  itself  above  the  ground.  This  material  is 
used  for  fuel  and  fodder  during  the  winter  and  the 
country  is  reduced  to  complete  desolation. 

The  resulting  train  of  evils  is  inevitable.  At  all 
ordinary  times  the  rivers  of  China  are  dry,  rock- 
strewn  gullies.  Deep  wells  barely  yield  enough 
water  to  keep  the  people  alive.  Whenever  the  wind 
blows  at  all  hard  the  air  becomes  saturated  with 
great  clouds  of  pulverised  dust.  It  enters  all  houses 
through  various  cracks  and  crevices  and  makes 
vision  outdoors  difficult.  Small  particles  remain 
suspended  in  the  air  for  days. 

When  rain  does  come,  it  nearly  always  brings  dis- 
astrous floods.  The  water  rushes  down  the  bare 
hillsides  into  the  river  gullies  and  becomes  a  raging 
torrent.  The  flood  spreads  out  into  the  adjoining 
country  and  strews  the  fields  with  crop -ruining 
stones  and  boulders.  There  is  a  continual  washing 
of  soil  from  the  highlands.  The  Yellow  and  other 
rivers  annually  carry  tons  of  rich  earth  out  to  sea. 

The  Chinese  have  saved  some  of  the  hillside  land 
for  cultivation  by  building  elaborate  systems  of  ter- 
races. How  much  better  it  would  have  been  to  have 
spared  some  of  the  trees  which  formed  its  original 


TREES  AND  CIVILISATION       189 

and  natural  protectors !  To  restore  China's  forests 
now  would  necessitate  many  centuries  of  elaborate 
toil. 

The  effect  of  the  deforestation  on  the  people  is 
obvious.  The  resulting  impoverishment  and  fre- 
quent famines  have  made  them  men  and  women 
without  ambition  and  initiative.  They  have  to 
spend  too  much  time  keeping  alive  to  think  much 
of  making  progress.  Except  for  small  groups  or 
isolated  ornamental  specimens,  the  Chinese  never 
see  a  tree,  and  so  lose  all  the  spirit  of  uplift  and 
inspiration  which  man's  forest  friends  always  ra- 
diate. 

The  picture  of  China  to-day  is  a  picture  of  Amer- 
ica in  a  very  near  and  imminent  to-morrow.  The 
fate  which  has  overtaken  China,  India,  Palestine 
and  parts  of  Spain  is  in  store  for  her  unless  she 
mends  her  ways.  This  is  not  sensationalism  but  a 
prediction  as  sure  as  the  statement  that  water  will 
run  down  hill. 

When  the  white  men  first  came  to  North  Amer- 
ica, they  found  a  continent  completely  clothed  with 
beautiful  forest  verdure.  There  were  great  central 
prairies  to  be  sure,  but  at  least  three-quarters  of 
the  country,  comprising  850,000,000  acres,  was 
wooded.  For  three  centuries  we  have  hacked  away 
at  this  great  sylvan  store  house  with  unprecedented 


190  THE  HUMAN  SIDE  OF  TREES 

vigour.  To-day  the  end  is  beginning  to  be  visible. 
It  is  estimated  that  we  are  using  each  year  wood 
much  in  excess  of  that  naturally  produced.  Un- 
der present  methods  of  exploitation  the  most  opti- 
mistic figuring  only  places  serious  wood  shortages 
some  ten  to  fifteen  years  away.  The  price  of  wood 
and  paper  is  steadily  mounting. 

Devastating  spring  floods  have  become  an  ex- 
pected thing  in  the  United  States,  especially  in  the 
Mississippi  States.  As  long  ago  as  1900  or  1901 
Theodore  Roosevelt  warned  his  fellow-countrymen 
that  the  forestry  situation  was  one  of  the  gravest 
internal  problems  confronting  the  country.  His 
words  are  still  true. 

The  rate  at  which  our  timber  resources  are  being 
consumed  is  almost  unbelievable.  It  is  estimated 
that  the  railroads  alone  use  over  150,000,000  ties 
a  year.  Wood  for  all  purposes  taken  from  the  for- 
ests annually  amounts  to  22,000,000,000  cubic  feet, 
valued  at  $1,375,000,000  (1916) .  The  48,000  saw- 
mills of  the  land  waste  in  sawdust  and  scraps  about 
36,000,000  cords  each  twelve  months.  Since  1870, 
the  annual  loss  from  forest  fires  (largely  the  re- 
sult of  careless  lumbering  methods)  has  been  ap- 
proximately 50,000,000  acres,  valued  at  $50,- 
000,000. 

The  general  practice  still  largely  in  vogue  is  to 


TREES  AND  CIVILISATION      191 

get  the  wood  out  of  the  forest  in  the  cheapest  way 
possible.  The  ground  is  left  littered  with  twigs 
and  small  branches,  a  veritable  fire  trap  for  the 
first  locomotive's  spark  or  the  first  camp  fire 
ashes.  The  inevitable  conflagrations  reduce  the  most 
luxuriant  woods  to  desolate  wastes.  Even  the  soil 
of  vegetable  mould  is  often  burned.  In  some  lum- 
bering regions,  there  is  very  little  left  to  be  con- 
sumed. In  cutting  for  the  pulp  mills,  everything, 
young  and  old,  large  and  small,  down  to  six  inches 
is  taken.  .When  the  fires  get  through  nothing  much 
more  than  the  naked  rock  is  left.  There  are  many 
such  sections  in  which  it  will  be  impossible  to  re- 
establish a  natural  stand  of  timber  in  less  than 
one  hundred  years.  When  the  trees  do  come,  they 
are  liable  to  be  inferior  specimens  because  of  the 
deteriorated  condition  of  the  soil. 

Such  large  scale  tree-murder  is  not  only  appal- 
ling to  the  esthetic  sense,  but  economic  suicide  as 
well.  If  it  were  a  necessary  evil,  we  might  be  jus- 
tified in  shrugging  our  shoulders  and  resigning 
ourselves  to  the  inevitable.  But  deforestation  for 
a  country  like  the  United  States  is  no  more  neces- 
sary than  a  famine  in  foodstuffs.  The  whole  rem- 
edy lies  in  an  idea.  People  are  too  prone  to  look 
upon  the  woodlands  as  a  definite  fixed  amount  of 
natural  wealth  in  exactly  the  same  way  as  they 


192   THE  HUMAN  SIDE  OF  TREES 

look  at  a  deposit  of  coal,  copper  or  zinc.  It  is  there 
for  use.  Once  it  is  used  up,  it  cannot  be  replaced. 
This  conception  is  fundamentally  wrong.  The 
forests  can  be  made  to  be  perpetual  living  resources. 
In  their  relation  to  man,  they  should  be  classed  as 
crops  and  not  as  unreplaceable  timber.  Properly 
managed  and  taken  care  of,  they  can  be  made  to 
last  forever. 

This  is  no  idle  theory.  All  the  nations  of  Europe, 
particularly  Germany,  are  operating  large  sections 
of  woodland  on  this  basis.  The  American  govern- 
ment and  the  more  enlightened  private  owners  are 
using  scientific  methods  of  forestry  on  a  large  scale. 

A  tree  requires  less  individual  care  than  any  other 
productive  plant.  All  it  asks  is  space  and  room 
to  grow  under  approximately  natural  conditions. 
The  city  of  Zurich,  Switzerland,  has  owned  a  for- 
est for  one  thousand  years.  For  six  hundred  of 
these,  it  has  furnished  a  definite  generous  yield  of 
timber  annually.  It  is  now  in  better  condition 
than  ever  before.  As  early  as  1300,  northern  Eu- 
rope adopted  some  of  the  principles  of  national  for- 
estry which  we  in  the  United  States  are  just  be- 
ginning to  accept. 

As  the  habit  of  cultivating  tree  crops  gets  more 
firmly  fixed  in  modern  life,  it  is  predicted  that  we 
will  look  more  and  more  to  the  trees  for  our  food. 


TREES  AND  CIVILISATION       193 

The  grains  are  now  our  great  staples,  but  if  we 
could  only  transfer  our  allegiance  to  the  nuts 
(which  are  extremely  nourishing) ,  a  great  economic 
saving  would  result.  The  feeble  wheat  must  be 
carefully  nurtured  in  specially  prepared  soil  and 
succumbs  easily  before  heavy  rains  and  early  frosts. 
Orchards  yielding  acorns,  walnuts,  chestnuts,  chin- 
capins,  hickory  nuts  and  pecans  require  next  to  no 
attention  and  need  no  soil  ploughage  at  all.  The 
very  fact  of  the  small  labour  outlay  required  will 
militate  strongly  against  the  general  adoption  of 
nut-cultivation.  There  will  be  more  opposition  to 
it  than  greeted  the  spinning  jenny.  Fruits  of  all 
kinds  are,  of  course,  already  grown  on  a  large  scale, 
but  if  we  could  only  cultivate  a  taste  for  acorn  flour, 
the  trees  would  come  into  their  own.  Chestnuts 
have  long  been  a  popular  crop  in  Italy.  The  chest- 
nut orchards  there  are  said  to  net  their  owners  as 
much  per  acre  as  the  best  wheat  lands  in  the  United 
States. 

When  it  comes  to  the  relation  of  the  trees  to  rain- 
fall, one  of  the  most  vital  spots  of  our  civilisation 
is  touched.  The  water  that  descends  upon  the  sur- 
face of  the  earth  is  disposed  of  in  one  of  three  ways : 

( 1 )  It  goes  back  into  the  air  by  direct  evaporation. 

(2)  It  runs  down  to  the  sea  in  streams.     (3)   It 
percolates  into  the  earth,  where  it  is  held  as  in  a 


194  THE  HUMAN  SIDE  OF  TREES 

reservoir,  to  be  fed  gradually  into  the  brooks  and 
so  furnish  a  constant  supply  of  fresh,  running 
water. 

In  the  temperate  zone,  the  water  disposed  of  by 
direct  evaporation  is  negligible.  Under  normal  con- 
ditions, a  little  of  the  rainfall  runs  off  into  the 
streams  immediately,  but  the  great  mass  of  it  filters 
down  into  the  great  earth  reservoir.  Now,  the  only 
way  that  land  can  be  kept  soft  and  spongy  enough 
to  absorb  water  is  when  it  is  protected  by  trees. 
When  exposed  to  the  sun,  it  invariably  takes  on  a 
hard,  dry  crust  off  which  the  water  tends  to  run  as 
off  a  board.  This  then  is  the  vital  reason  for  the 
maintenance  of  large  forest  areas,  particularly  in 
mountainous  regions  where  great  rivers  take  their 
rise.  Destroy  the  natural  tree  protectors  of  the 
water  sheds  and  a  distressing  succession  of  floods 
and  droughts  always  results. 

Fortunately,  far-sighted  men  in  this  country  have 
seen  the  urgency  of  this  phase  of  the  forest  ques- 
tion for  some  time.  A  somewhat  lethargic  public 
opinion  has  been  aroused  to  its  importance.  There 
may  be  still  time  to  prevent  disastrous  results. 

Successive  presidents  for  a  number  of  decades 
have  set  aside  increasingly  generous  tracts  of  the 
national  domain.  The  states,  led  by  New  York's 
million-acre  Adirondack  reservation  in  1885,  have 


A  GOVERNMENT-PROTECTED  STREAM  HEAD  IN  THE  SOITHERX  APPALACHIANS 


TREES  AND  CIVILISATION       195 

followed  suit.  The  vital  water  sheds  of  the  country 
are  gradually  being  withdrawn  from  private  ex- 
ploitation. It  looks  as  though  we  have  begun  to 
solve  the  problem  of  adequate  rainfall  distribution, 
if  not  the  almost  equally  important  problem  of 
timber  conservation. 

Up  to  1916,  the  federal  government  had  under 
its  control  156,114,895  acres  of  forest  land,  in  which 
is  included  one-fifth  of  the  country's  standing  tim- 
ber. Some  of  this  is  in  the  form  of  national  parks, 
where  all  private  cutting  is  forever  barred.  A  large 
part  is  in  the  form  of  reservations  where  private 
tracts  exist  but  are  subject  to  government  regu- 
lation. 

The  United  States  Forestry  Service  is  now  an 
important  bureau  of  the  Department  of  Agricul- 
ture. It  maintains  large  bodies  of  forest  rangers 
and  fire  wardens  on  the  public  lands  and  makes  ex- 
haustive studies  of  improved  forestry  methods. 
With  the  various  state  bureaus,  it  is  gradually 
teaching  private  owners  the  proper  way  to  handle 
woodlands. 

Forestry  has  become  such  a  live  issue  in  the 
United  States,  that  many  colleges,  notably  Yale, 
have  established  schools  devoted  to  the  subject. 

It  may  be  interesting  to  briefly  consider  some  of 
the  principles  governing  the  scientific  care  of  trees. 


196   THE  HUMAN  SIDE  OF  TREES 

Forestry,  or  sylviculture,  as  it  is  sometimes  called, 
is  simply  an  intelligent  and  far-sighted  manage- 
ment of  woodlands.  It  may  be  done  for  a  com- 
mercial motive  with  the  idea  of  producing  the  high- 
est grade  lumber  at  the  least  cost.  It  may  be  done 
as  a  protective  measure  and  involve  the  cultivation 
of  a  body  of  trees  as  a  windbreak  or  the  regulators 
of  important  streams.  It  may  be  done  for  esthetic 
reasons  to  minister  to  man's  striving  for  the  spirit- 
ual and  to  satisfy  his  innate  desire  for  communion 
with  the  trees.  In  all  cases  care  and  sympathetic 
treatment  are  the  watchwords. 

The  simplest  sort  of  forestry  comprises  some 
form  of  selective  system.  Only  the  mature  and 
marketable  trees  are  cut  down.  The  others  are 
carefully  protected  from  injury  and  allowed  to 
grow  to  their  full  size. 

When  the  trees  are  all  of  approximately  the  same 
age,  clear  cutting  is  usually  advisable.  Under  this 
method,  complete  sections  of  the  forest  are  removed 
at  one  time.  On  an  exposed  slope  the  thinning 
effect  of  selective  cutting  makes  the  remaining 
trees  liable  to  uprooting  by  the  wind.  By  making 
clean  cuts  this  danger  is  avoided.  The  cut-over 
area  should  at  once  be  started  with  young  trees. 
In  some  cases,  neighbouring  trees  in  the  forest  can 
be  counted  on  to  propagate  their  kind  on  the  clear- 


TREES  AND  CIVILISATION       197 

ing.  At  other  times,  a  better  result  is  obtained  by 
artificial  planting. 

More  complicated  methods  are  the  various  shel- 
ter-wood systems.  Their  principle  is  to  grow  young 
trees  under  the  shade  and  protection  of  their 
fathers  and  mothers.  A  virgin  forest  is  often 
cleared  of  its  more  promising  specimens  in  what 
is  called  the  seed-cutting.  After  reproduction  has 
taken  place  and  young  trees  have  gotten  a  firm 
start  in  the  openings,  a  final  cutting  takes  out  all 
of  the  original  timber. 

With  certain  species  of  trees  a  coppice  or  lazy 
man's  system  may  be  practised.  This  is  no  less 
than  not  to  provide  for  new  trees  at  all,  but  to  rely 
upon  sprouts  from  old  stumps  to  furnish  new 
growths.  These,  however,  rarely  develop  into 
stately  and  useful  trees. 

Under  any  of  the  regimes,  forest  development 
should  be  aided  and  protected  in  numerous  other 
ways.  The  woods  must  be  thinned  to  provide  all 
specimens  with  the  requisite  amount  of  air  and  light. 
Small  specimens  must  be  liberated  from  the  over- 
bearing shadow  of  greatly  advanced  individuals. 
Trees  that  are  hopelessly  deformed  or  damaged  by 
the  elements  should  be  removed. 

Protection  against  fire  is  a  great  problem  in  itself. 
Fire  not  only  kills  great  numbers  of  trees,  but  often 


198   THE  HUMAN  SIDE  OF  TREES 

causes  them  to  be  replaced  by  great  areas  of  scraggy 
bush.  Large  sections  of  the  once-wooded  Pocono 
Mountains  plateau  in  Pennsylvania  are  now  cov- 
ered with  low,  monotonous-looking  bushes. 

A  littered  forest  is  greatly  more  susceptible  to 
fire  than  a  clean  one.  If  all  brush  and  loose  twigs 
are  collected  and  carefully  burned  the  risk  is  cut 
in  half.  Locomotives  running  through  heavily 
wooded  districts  should  be  made  to  burn  oil  or  be 
provided  with  spark-arresters.  Water  courses, 
roads,  trails  and  specially  dug  ditches  are  very  ef- 
fective in  stopping  surface  fires.  Nothing  is  better 
than  an  ordinary  dirt  road.  The  opening  of  as 
many  roads  and  trails  as  possible  is  one  of  the  first 
steps  in  good  forestry.  They  serve  the  double  pur- 
pose of  fire  lines  and  means  of  quick  communica- 
tion. 

American  business  men  have  definitely  adopted 
the  principles  of  scientific  management.  They  can 
be  applied  to  the  growing  of  tree-crops  as  well  as 
anything  else.  On  any  so-called  abandoned  New 
England  farm,  pine  seedlings  with  a  little  care  can 
be  grown  to  be  worth  $150  an  acre  in  forty  years. 
This  may  not  be  a  very  attractive  proposition  to  a 
man  who  must  have  quick  returns,  but  it  is  a  splen- 
did investment  for  a  company  organised  to  take  ad- 
vantage of  just  such  opportunities. 


TREES  AND  CIVILISATION       190 

The  city  man  need  not  stand  aside  from  the  fight 
for  better  recognition  of  the  place  of  the  trees  in 
modern  civilisation.  The  cities  need  the  trees  as 
much  as  the  country.  In  an  esthetic  sense,  they 
need  them  more.  Large  urban  areas  are  completely 
void  of  beneficent  shade  and  leafy  inspiration. 
Streets  are  often  planted  with  trees  which  are  out 
of  keeping  with  their  surroundings. 

The  study  of  city  tree-planting  is  a  considerable 
art.  It  is  not  given  to  every  man  to  know  untaught 
when  it  is  best  to  plant  the  small  and  close-crowned 
horse  chestnut  beneath  an  iron  grating.  Only  ex- 
perience teaches  that  the  Norway  maple,  the  Orien- 
tal plane  and  the  English  elm  are  best  in  formal 
open  spaces.  It  is  hard  to  understand  that  the 
wide-spreading  oaks  and  elms,  beautiful  as  they 
are,  should  be  restricted  to  the  freedom  of  parks  and 
boulevards. 

Yet  these  things  are  gradually  being  learned. 
The  Mall  in  Washington  is  a  magnificent  avenue 
of  inspiring  trees.  Many  other  towns  and  cities 
can  exhibit  splendid  examples  of  perfect  tree  cul- 
ture. 

THE  END 


DC  SOU1 

III 

A   I 


001  275716    7 


